So apparently the vaccine line at one South Carolina location was hours long - inefficient, frustrating, and absolutely ridiculous. Somebody commented that no one handles drive-through lines better than Chick-Fil-A. So those in charge of the vaccine administration called a local Chick-Fil-A manager. He came down, looked things over, made adjustments, and decreased the wait time to a mere 15 minutes. Sandy, on JoyFM, was telling this story. And her take? When she finds herself in a pickle and things are not going well, she just wants to see one cow, as in Chick-Fil-A’s slogan “Eat More Chicken.” (The sign held by a cow.)

Doesn’t that make you smile?!

As I smiled, I was flooded with my own cow associations. I don’t automatically think of cows and Chick-Fil-A. I think of the Sandhills of Western Nebraska on my grandparents’ five-section cattle ranch. I think of the summers I spent on the ranch chasing cows, following Uncle Mike, milking cows, helping Grandma, putting up hay to feed cows, taking piano lessons from Mary Ann, riding on the feed sled, talking with Grandad, driving the scatter rake, checking salt, flying in the two-seater Cesena with Grandad to find a bull, cleaning out an autogate, changing the irrigation lines, picking potato bugs off the potatoes, taking the cows to the Dille (my great-grandparents’ homestead - 16 miles across country from the ranch), doctoring the cows for pink eye . . . Very quickly I get lost thinking about one of my most favorite places on earth.

I associate the Sandhills with peace, quiet, fresh air, sweet smells, sweet Sandhills water, precious childhood memories, and a more relaxed pace than my normal hurried existence. It is still a wonderful place, but there’s a sense of loss. So many people who are part of the fabric of my memories of the Sandhills have died. It’s just not the same without them; there’s a huge void.

It takes a lot longer to describe the thought progression from vaccine lines to Chick-Fil-A to cows to the Sandhills than it actually happened in real time. In just moments, a twinkling of an eye (so to speak), I was thinking of that time when I’m going to see all of those who have gone before. I’m going to experience a place more wonderful than the Sandhills, a place of peace and joy and the people I love so much. I’m very grateful to have that blessed assurance before me every day.

And I’m so glad that when I’m in a pickle, when things aren’t going so well, I think of the One who can make all things right, make all things flow more smoothly - my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I don’t think about a cow.

We all know the saying, “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” but we were reminded recently that sometimes ladders do. Well, the ladder wasn’t exactly growing; the tree had grown around the ladder. Okay, the truth is the tree was the only part of the equation still growing.

How many times have you seen something similar? Where trees are plentiful and the soil is rocky, many times it’s easier to attach the fencing to the trees. Subsequently, the tree grows around the wire. A few years ago, we were shocked to see Ron’s chainsaw sparking as we cut down an old oak tree. Embedded in the heart of the tree was barbed wire. It had long since rusted away on the outside, but the tree had grown around the wire and had preserved it to dull Ron’s blade when he cut into it.

It’s an interesting object lesson, isn’t it. That is, there are things that don’t really belong in our lives, things that are not beneficial to our growth and development and actually are detrimental to our development. But we put up with them and develop around these foreign things (experiences, thoughts, relationships, behaviors, habits). They become part of who we are - to the point that, eventually, trying to eradicate them would mean major surgery - physically, mentally, or spiritually.

The crazy thing is: anyone looking at our lives could clearly see that the “thing” doesn’t belong in our lives any more than the ladder belongs in the tree. The thing adds stress, provides an entry point for disease, and is, at the best laughable, and at the worst, hideous.

We would like to believe that a “ladder-laden” person would be someone who has yet to come to Christ. It must be those sin-sick souls out of whom ladders would protrude as unsightly encumbrances. We would counsel them to heed the call of the Savior to repent and go under the waters of baptism, eschewing the world and its sinfulness, its foreign and harmful behaviors and ideas. And there’s a lot of truth in those words. Jesus does take the sinner, lost and lonely, rescuing each of us from the miry pit of sin, destructive behaviors and ungodly thoughts.

But as the apostle Paul eloquently describes in Romans 7, what we want to do as a new creation in Christ is at odds with the carnal nature still within us. We do the things we don’t want to do. We unwisely allow ungodly behaviors to abide in our lives even as we strive to walk worthy of the calling we have received.

Do we recognize our continuing need for the Savior? Do we understand that God says He is cleansing and sanctifying us (Ephesians 5:26-27; Hebrews 10:14)? He is purifying a people for His own possession (Titus 2:14). Do we understand that even as we have to make Godly choices, repulsing the evil and desiring the good, we cannot rely on our strength and understanding? (Zechariah 4:6; 2 Chronicles 32:8) Do we comprehend our deep need for the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our lives? (2 Corinthians 3:8; Romans 12:2) If we want to become Christlike, we have to draw near to Him, submitting to His work in our lives, choosing daily His ways and keeping our eyes focused on Him.

Our goal is to grow ever more like our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ, becoming like Him in thought, word, and deed. We want to be molded into a useful and God-honoring vessel by the Potter. That requires discipline and a willingness to bring every thought into submission to Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). It requires honest, ongoing self-evaluation. It requires spending time quietly meditating on the things of God. It requires everything we are. Otherwise, we could very well be walking around, proclaiming Christ all the while sporting a ladder or rusty barbed wire rather than the fruit of the Spirit.

There’s a wonderful thing that happens when I’m headed home from the Feast of Tabernacles with a van load of young adults who squeezed as much “fun” into the week as humanly possible. Of course, they are all asleep - kind of a fulfillment of “We can sleep on the train.” So I’m left with 750 miles of driving, mile after mile of mostly interstate.

The first thing I had to do was sing all of the songs that were stuck in my head from a week of praising God within a large group of God’s people. Some of them, I had to sing a couple of times. 😀 I rejoiced in the baptism of my nephew!!! Then I thought about the conversations I had had, along with a regret that there was not more time. So many things unsaid. So many conversations that could have been. Then I jumped to reviewing the messages I heard.

It’s always interesting to me how messages seem to coalesce. Perhaps someone else would have a different impression overall, but my take-away was the emphasis on becoming vulnerable, submissive, and humble before God, trusting Him regardless of what happens - because things don’t just happen. My life is in the hands of my God who is molding me into the image of Jesus Christ. I may think His goal is to make me look like a golden cup; in reality, He wants me moldable like a clay vessel. In the end, I need to trust Him - fully, whole-heartedly - because we live in an increasingly ungodly world.

We shouldn’t be surprised that there are oppositions against us. We are coming to expect it more and more from society; how much more division can there be in our country before we have all-out civil war? But what can surprise us are the subtle attacks from Satan to divide families and friends. He knows that a three-fold cord is not easily broken. He knows that a house divided against itself cannot stand. He also knows his time is short. Thus his ferocity against God’s people is increasing. Satan throws his lies against us with devious intent.

We have to put on the full armor of God. We have to encourage one another as we see the Day approaching. We have to live by faith, exhorting each other to keep our eyes focused on our Savior, not on the waves around us. We have to seek the truth, repudiating the lies, relying on God’s Word to give us light to navigate the mire. We walk as ambassadors of Christ, confessing with our actions that God is good and trustworthy and worthy of praise. This life isn’t just about us; it’s about be a living sacrifice to the glory and honor of God. Although we make it our aim to live quiet lives in harmony with those around us, we also do not shrink back from declaring the good news of the kingdom as God sets opportunity before us. We are not just marking time; we are occupying until He comes, doing the tasks that He sets before us as good and profitable servants.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Feast of Tabernacles this year. I loved the music and the messages. I loved the conversations. I loved rehearsing the family reunion that we’ll have when Jesus returns. I loved seeing people I haven’t seen, in some cases, for years. I love the memories that pop up because of the history of feasting with God’s family. And I love the encouragement gained - not a new message, but the same encouragement packaged in different words to make it stick again. Praise God for His Feast days. Praise God for miles of uninterrupted meditation time to taste it all on my tongue and savor it fully.

So. What did you bring home from the Feast?

We had a cat when I was growing up (Sir Richard the Lion-hearted), but he was an outside cat who stayed in our barn. So the addition of Verge to our family has been a learning experience. We knew she was a different critter than a dog, but we didn’t know just how different.

She lies on the porch rail and, if Pepper nonchalantly walks by waging his tail, she’ll take exception to that tail wag and shoot out claws to catch it. In similar fashion, one day Pepper trotted by her, intent on his own business. She didn’t like something about that and suddenly hissed at him and swiped a claw at him. He recoiled, his demeanor portraying, “What was that all about? What did I do?”

Pepper is not her only target. One evening she scared me half to death when I took the dogs outside before bed. I was star-gazing and keeping an eye on the dogs when unexpectedly a soft tail swooshed across my leg. Or there was the day Jennifer and I were  picking blueberries. Verge has laid claim to one of the blueberry bushes. That first day she just pounced on my feet. It was a warning; there were no claws on my bare toes. But subsequent days saw a drastic uptick in aggressiveness; we saw both claws and teeth. She does NOT like us picking blueberries off her bush. Tail swish angrily!

And then there’s the issue of food. We have been conditioned by dogs - namely labs, who are not simply carnivores; they’re omnivores. And when I say they will eat anything, I am including watermelon and cantaloupe in that list. The cat, on the other hand, will show a definite preference for a sabbath evening cat dinner - canned cat food. (Normal day food is just dry food.) She’ll finish off her half can of food and lick the dish. The next morning, however, when I took the food out to her, she said, “Yuck.” O.K. She didn’t actually say “Yuck,” but her body language and actions all made it very plain what she thought of the meal offering. So I put a little of the canned food on my finger and put it up to her nose. “Yuck!” So I let Pepper slurp it off my finger. Verge immediately leaned WAY out from the porch rail and said, “What did you just feed the dog? Did you feed him my food? I wanted that!” O.K. She didn’t actually say that, but that’s what it looked like. So I pulled my finger away from Pepper’s voracious attention and offered the food to Verge again. “Yuck!”

Yes, there has been some head-shaking and eye-rolling going on as we adjust to life with a cat. But there have been some definite benefits as well. I don’t think it’s merely coincidental that we’ve had a lot fewer mice in the cars since she showed up.

Jennifer has discovered the truth of what we told her at the outset: Dogs have masters; cats have servants. She also understands why I was willing to have a cat, if she was an outside cat. Verge sometimes sleeps in Jennifer’s room, but routinely pounces on Jennifer’s feet, scratches under the bed, and otherwise keeps her from getting a good night’s sleep. I think Jennifer will be more reluctant to take on anything which is almost guaranteed to keep her up at night. (She’s solved the problem with her two older brothers, now she has a cat.)

Another good thing is enjoying the funny things she does: pouncing on crickets, following us out to the garden when we’re harvesting or pulling weeds, pouncing on the weeds we’re pulling, etc. Pets all have their own personality and they can bring joy, relieve stress, and lighten the mood - even while they add responsibility, care, and cost.

But what I really like about Verge’s addition to our family are some of the observations it has generated:
1. People (or pets) don’t always have the same likes/dislikes/behaviors as you. It doesn’t make them wrong, necessarily; different can be good.
2. Don’t assume you know what someone is thinking. Unless they are very close to you, you’re wrong - maybe a whole lot wrong, but almost certainly a little bit! Our families, church fellowships, and other friends would be so appreciative if we’d quit acting as if we had them completely pegged.
3. Grace and patience are wonderful to receive - and they make relationships function so much more smoothly.
4. We may think that we don’t like someone at all. But oftentimes getting to know someone reveals that they aren’t half bad. We may find out that we actually like them a whole lot. I like picking up Verge and stroking her long, silky fur. Who’d have ever thought that!?
5. Expanding your family to include another member (physical family, church family) requires a period of adjustment. There are going to be some bumps. But remember: there are some definite benefits!
6. Each person (or pet) brings their own set of talents, skills, or gifts to the family. You are much stronger together than separately.
I now have more inspiration for writing newsletter articles. 🙂
Of course, most of these thoughts were based on physical family and friends, but we could spend a long time talking about being adopted into the family of God and other spiritual analogies. Suffice it to say, it’s just another good reminder that there are lessons that we can learn all around us every day - if we only have eyes to see and sometimes you can learn something from a cat.

    One of my favorite scenes out of Facing the Giants is the discussion between Coach Grant Taylor and his wife Brooke  about God blessing them with a baby. He asks her if she will still love God, even if He doesn’t give them what they want. Eventually Brooke thinks she might be pregnant and goes to the clinic for a pregnancy test. The nurse comes back to tell her it’s negative . . . again. We see her walk out of the doctor’s office, heartbroken. Brooke tells God, “I will still love You.” Then the nurse realizes she’s gotten some names mixed up, that Mrs. Taylor is indeed pregnant and goes running out to share the life-changing message with her.

So my question is: How blessed are you?

I have a black lab whose cataracts are so bad, she’s virtually blind. She runs into things, falls over shoes left on the floor, steps on the cat when Virginia doesn’t move, runs afoul of Pepper when he’s already taken up residence in her bed, and recoils dozens of times a day over things she didn’t know were about to touch her nose. Her comfort level outside decreases almost by the day. But is she blessed? She’s healthy. She’s well-taken care of. She’s very much loved. I’d say that as far as almost 13 year-old blind black labs go, she’s blessed.

We live in a world that increasingly believes that work is a four-letter word. (It is a four-letter word, but not in the context that they mean.) Too many people don’t really want a job; they just want a paycheck. They believe the
government - or some rich dude somewhere - owes them a living. We live in a nation where the idea of entitlement is rampant.

It’s a slippery slope and one that Christians have to be wary of approaching. Except in Christian terms, it sneaks up on us like this: I have some health issues. Some of my relatives/friends are giving me fits. Our insurance rates just went up. The clutch just went out in the pick-up. (It did! This morning! Right in the middle of using it!!) There’s mayhem and madness all around us. Conflicts. Stress. Problems. We sometimes slip into that mindset of “everything’s going wrong, and I’m so depressed.”

It’s the “can’t see the forest for all the trees” syndrome, or perhaps the “squeaky wheel gets the grease.” Because the reality is, if we belong to God, if we have been redeemed by Jesus our Messiah, we are already so blessed. Everything else is just icing.  Think about that for a minute! We will have life eternal, adopted into the very family of God. What could be more wonderful than that single blessing?

Furthermore, Paul says, “For these light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Not only are we so incredibly blessed, but there’s a purpose in the “momentary” troubles that we experience. They are for our growth because God loves us so very much! As Ron Dart used to say, “God doesn’t want to spend eternity with a bunch of losers.” Our perseverance will bear fruit.

But just enduring is not God’s will for us. He wants us to follow Him with rejoicing. A popular comedian says that too many Christians need to send missionaries to their face! That is, they need to smile. What kind of witness are we, why would anyone want what we have, if we project that being a Christian is a depressing, hopeless, joyless condition?!
We can’t focus on the things that are going wrong. There are going to be lots of things that go wrong in this life; it’s part of entropy and our world being subjected to futility and decay. But that’s temporary! In the scheme of things, it’s just small potatoes. And Mom always said, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” Keep it all in perspective. Remember that God is watching to see who will persevere, enduring to the end. Grandad always said, “You hired on to be tough.” As the KJV says, “Gird up the loins of your mind” in 1 Peter 1:13. In other words, cinch that belt a little tighter and get serious about being a servant of God. The ESV says to “prepare your minds for action.” Then it continues, “ . . . and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

We are so incredibly blessed. I just need to keep my mind centered on that reality.

Jennifer and I had walked up to get the mail at the mailbox recently and were coming back down our road when she stopped to pick up a rock. Rock collection must be in the blood because her grandmother can’t pass up an interesting rock either. 😁 I must admit it was a cool rock, hiding there in the midst of the rest of the gravel on the road, with curving layers and sharp edges left after having been crushed to the appropriate gravel size.

I couldn’t help thinking about the series of events which brought that rock to being in Jennifer’s hand. Likely, the rock was formed after Noah’s flood as the waters receded from the landscape, creating layers. This is the most likely explanation for the layers since the gravel was quarried just north of us near the Bourbeuse River. Earthquakes and weathering could also have played a roll in its shaping over the centuries. But at some point, it was quarried and scooped into the rock crusher. After undergoing at least one round of crushing, it was sorted and perhaps placed on the conveyor belt to undergo a more substantial crushing, until it reached the desired size. And then, a period of waiting began - waiting for a call from a customer who specifically wanted one-inch clean gravel to be delivered.

Here’s where it gets interesting! It could have been gravel used in the construction of the new Farmers and Merchants Bank in St. Clair. In that case, it would become part of the foundation under the building (a noble calling) or under the parking lot (an important, but less auspicious calling). It could have been used in any number of ways. But that particular rock ended up in our driveway. Now it’s been on our road for a year or so. It’s been driven over countless times. I’ve walked that section of road at least once daily. But it wasn’t until that particular day that it caught Jennifer’s eye and she picked it up.

As we walked on down the road, I was thinking about our development as the people of God. We are called living stones, being built into a spiritual house:

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4-5, ESV)

We are the temple of the Living God. (2 Corinthians 6:16)

Isn’t it interesting that the stones for the physical temple were not cut and shaped at the temple site. Rather they were shaped at the quarry.

In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built. (1 Kings 6:7, NIV)

Much like Jennifer’s rock, we are shaped into who we will be in God’s kingdom long before we ever arrive at the building site. That shaping requires some crushing, maybe some heat and pressure. It involves time. And waiting.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  (1 John 3:2, ESV)
We know we are being formed (quarried and crushed, if you will) into the image of our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 2:11; Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18) How appropriate that is!! He is the Rock of our salvation (Psalm 95:1) and spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4, ESV).

God is preparing a place for us, shaping us into the image of His Son, that we may not only be servants of Almighty God but also be adopted into His family.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9, ESV).

 . . . He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:4-6, ESV).

What an unbelievable future for an insignificant rock that started out as so much raw material in God’s creation! Just as Jennifer picked up that rock in the middle of the road, God chose us. That’s what both 1 Peter 2:9 and Ephesians 1:4 (along with a myriad of other verses) say! We were chosen by God, for His purposes.

All of the crushing and shaping, the pressure and waiting, it’s all in God’s hand. Simply put, He’s sovereign.

Jennifer cleaned that rock (an insignificant piece of gravel), wrapped it with wire, covered it with resin, and made a necklace for me to wear. I can’t help but think it’s an appropriate Ebenezer for what we’ve all just come through these past three months.

As I was washing my wash basins yesterday, I thought about how I use them. First and foremost, they were purchased as wash basins for the Passover service. Whenever I think about using them for another purpose, I always ask myself if I can get them clean enough to use for the foot washing service, i.e. I’d never use them to change oil in the van. But here I was washing them to get them ready to put away again after the recent frost. They were actually too small to use to cover my plants, but they replaced the buckets that I did use to protect my little garden seedlings. I used one to hold the water for the dogs. I used two to hold dog food. I used one to bring in kindling to get the fire started. The only other time I use the wash basins, at least to this point, is when I need to carry in stuff from the garden, the harvest of tomatoes or peppers or cucumbers.

So, I was musing, these wash basins all point me back to God in some fashion: 1) foot washing: Jesus told Peter that if He didn’t wash his feet, he would have no part with Him. I definitely want fellowship with Jesus. So I annually participate in the footwashing ceremony associated with Passover;

2) dog water: John 7:37 says that if we go to Jesus and have fellowship with Him, out of our bellies will flow living water, which John understood to be the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I want to belong to God and to be used by Him (indwelling of the Holy Spirit) to accomplish His will;

3) dog food: Jesus told Satan that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is the Bread of life. And the bread broken during the Passover service symbolizes the broken body of Jesus, bruised for our transgression, wounded for our iniquities. I want to partake of that Bread. I want to have Jesus in me, in every aspect of my life, even to eternal life in His kingdom.

4) harvest: We can work all we want, planting, watering, building a house, but if God isn’t in it, it will not succeed. God gives the increase. I want to be found in Christ. I want God to establish the works of my hands because they glorify and honor Him, pointing people back to Him.

It was a simple thing, really. I was just washing basins, cleaning them up to put them away. It actually turned into a profound thought that, if we belong to God, all of our life is connected to Him and it all comes back to Jesus.

We had a freeze Friday night. Accuweather says that locally it was 28º. That’s not good news for my lilacs, my blooming blueberry bushes, cherry trees, or apple tree. It’s not good for the broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower seedlings already planted in the garden. We were busy scrambling Friday evening to get what we could covered up and protected.

I was very glad I’d waited to plant my more temperature-sensitive tomatoes seedlings in the garden. But I had been tempted. After all, since March 26th (New Year’s Day, by God’s calendar), we had had one day with temperatures in the 90ºs, three days in the 80ºs, three days in the 70ºs, nine days in the 60ºs, six days in the 50ºs, and only two days in the 40ºs. That doesn’t sound too bad. But it was the lows which tell the real story: two days with lows in the 60ºs, three days with lows in the 50ºs, six in the 40ºs, twelve in the 30ºs and Friday night’s temperature of 28º. And that last week before we hit 28º, the lows were all in the 30ºs.

It just wasn’t prudent to overlook the average last frost date of April 20th in Missouri.

Oh, but it’s hard. The weather had been so nice. The trees are blooming. It looks like a nice spring after a cold, rainy winter compounded with COVID-19. Who wouldn’t want to take a chance, get outside and get their fingers in the dirt? Let’s do something positive. Let’s do something productive and hopeful.

I read an article about liminality recently. The author wrote, “A liminal moment is one that is in between, neither ‘back there where we were’ nor ‘up there where we will be’.” And that’s kind of where we found ourselves the past three weeks in terms of gardening. It wasn’t quite winter still, but it wasn’t spring yet.

I couldn’t help thinking about liminality and that the freeze Friday night is a harbinger of what could happen if people decide the main threat of COVID-19 is over and jump right back into life as usual. I guess the thinking is: 1) I’m not sick; 2) no one around me is sick; 3) the numbers are going down; 4) I don’t live in New York, so let’s get back to work.

It’s tempting. People are tired of the stress and strain of not knowing how long this is going to last. They’re tired of the inconvenience. They’re tired of being told to restrain themselves. They’re listening to the pied piper of social media, which says, “The government is trying to take away your freedom. We’ve become a socialist state. Are you so stupid you can’t see what is happening? Don’t let them take away your freedom.” So then we’re going to become lawless in order to regain our freedom? That’s not liberty. That’s anarchy.

Think about it. If the weather man tells you that we have a bad ice storm coming and you might want to stay off the roads, do you tell him he can’t tell you what to do and intentionally go shopping? If the national hurricane prediction center tells you that a Cat 5 hurricane has you in its bulls-eye, do you take precautions, board up your windows, hunker down to ride out the storm? Do you evacuate when they tell you to? Or do you stay in your house and end up having to be rescued off your roof, putting others at risk when they have to mount a rescue effort? When there’s an avalanche warning posted, do you stay out of that area? Or do you tell the officials they can’t tell where you can and can’t go? They don’t have the right to take away your freedom to ski any trail you wish? What about a road out ahead? Should the government warn its populace that the bridge is out?  Warning is okay, but stopping people from driving that road that they paid for with their taxes is not?

It’s easy to sit at home and second guess our officials, criticizing their decisions. But if you don’t like what they’re doing, respond in a lawful manner. Send a letter to the governor’s office. Make a phone call to your representative. Better yet, put the time and effort into researching the candidates and vote in the person you trust will represent your interests. And if you can’t trust any of them, then put your own name in the hat. If you don’t like the job they’re doing and you think you can do better, then go to it. But if you don’t like what our elected officials are deciding right now and you didn’t vote in the last election, then you have no room to complain.

In the end, God is still sovereign. He’s still on the throne. None of this has caught Him off guard. We still exist for and by his pleasure. Perhaps God is using this to test us, to see what’s in our hearts, to see if we’ll continue to keep His commandments (Deuteronomy 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:16; Judges 2:22; Judges 3:4). We know that we have been abundantly blessed!! So are we serving God with joy and gladness for the abundance of all things (Deuteronomy 28:47)? Or are we complaining (1 Corinthians 10:10)? We know that we are to pray for our leaders and obey their edicts as long as they are not in direct opposition to God’s laws ( 1 Timothy 2:1-2; 1 Peter 2:17; Romans 13:1; Jeremiah 29:7; Acts 5:29; Exodus 1:17; Daniel 6:13; Acts 4:19).

Maybe we haven’t learned the most basic of lessons yet. Perhaps God is teaching us that He is God and we are not. Perhaps we just need to be still. Wait. Seek God. Keep your eyes fixed on Him.

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Psalm 46:10

As the author of the liminality article wrote, “Liminal periods are a time of growth. We stand on the threshold between our old lives and our new lives, neither here nor there, the status quo impossible to reach, with more questions than answers.” (Homeschool Mom Newsletter, April 2020, Vol. 2)

We don’t have all the answers. But we know the One who does. Now would be a great time to be seeking Him for answers.

The latest film by Timothy Mahoney, Patterns of Evidence: Red Sea Crossing, Part 1, contrasts the two prevailing views concerning the exodus of Egypt by the Israelites. The Egyptian view postulates that there were probably only about 20,000 Hebrews who wandered about 12 miles before Pharaoh’s army caught up with them at the Sea of Reeds at the border of Egypt. The Hebrew position affirms that two million Hebrews traveled across the Sinai Peninsula before crossing the Red Sea into what is now Saudi Arabia.

The Egyptian stance says that there’s no way 2 million people, with all of their animals, could have been organized to cross a 150-200 mile stretch of desert in a matter of days. The food and water needs for that many people and all their animals would have been immense.

The Hebrew view maintains that the Bible states that God provided water (Psalm 68:7-10) and God provided food. God prepared Moses to lead the people - what was he doing in Egypt for the first third of his life?! And if it was only 20,000 Hebrews, why were the Egyptians afraid of them? (Ex 1:10-12) Why were the nations who heard of the events afraid of the Israelites? (Josh 2:9)

The Egyptian position states that it’s much more likely that a natural phenomenon, like wind, would have blown a path through the relatively shallow ancient Sea of Reeds and provided a way for the Israelites to cross. Anything deeper would have required a very heavy wind - too strong to stand up in.

The Hebrew view states that God is more than able to open a path through the Red Sea and to miraculously prepare a place for the Israelites to walk across dry-shod. Furthermore, it’s much more likely that all of Pharaoh’s army would be drowned in a deep sea rather than in a shallow lake, like the Sea of Reeds.

Remarkable, indeed, is the contrast between the Egyptian position and the Hebrew position. The Egyptian view looks for something easily explainable. The Hebrew stand affirms the miraculous power required by Almighty God to bring His people out of Egypt.

Looking out over the expanse of the Red Sea (specifically the Gulf of Aqaba) and knowing that at its deepest point it’s 6070 feet deep, it is inconceivable that a strong wind could have possibly parted that huge amount of water and dried out the sea bed overnight -  unless it was a miracle of God.

But our God is in the business of miracles. And He had just shown the land of Egypt ten of them! Why not continued miracles - like providing food, water, and deliverance for a 150-mile desert crossing for over two million people and their animals? Does it take a mighty hand to accomplish the Egyptian position? No, but the Hebrew view definitely fits the Biblical description in Deuteronomy 26:8: And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders.

The visual panorama at the edge of the Red Sea emphasizes the incredible power and majesty of our Great God and the lengths to which He went in redeeming His people.

Let’s replace the subject of the preceding sentence. We know that God bringing the Israelites out of Egypt is a type of bringing each of us out of slavery to sin. So let’s state it this way: The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ emphasizes the incredible power and majesty of our Great God and the lengths to which He went in redeeming His people.

Sometimes I think we become so used to thinking of Jesus as our Savior that we lose some of our awe. We forget that there is no other religion whose God is willing to die for His people. We become hardened to the phenomenal price paid on our behalf by our Savior.

So, in my mind’s eye, I stand on the edge of a shallow Sea of Reeds. Then I stand on the edge of a mammoth Gulf of Aqaba. Which of these two is a fitting type for what our Great God has done to redeem us from slavery to sin, to   pay our penalty of death, to reconcile us to the Father?

We’re just a month from the New Year, six weeks from Passover. We’re in the preparation month for God’s spring holy days. I know I will take some time to contemplate the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. I will thank God for the powerful visual object lesson He provided. And I will revel in the majesty and love of my God, who with His mighty hand and outstretched arm, redeemed me to Himself, to be part of the Bride of Christ.

My labs are now twelve years old. They both have torn ACLs, which don’t seem to cause them any pain. It just makes them slower. They both have noticeable cataracts, especially Velvet who runs into things now quite frequently. But in this season of their lives, an amazing thing has happened. Their primary focus is no longer the squirrels to chase or the smells to investigate. They just want to be near me. That means when I go outside and call them, they come. Long gone are the days when they would lift their head to see if what I wanted was more important than what they’re doing. Gone are the days when they would disappear for a couple of hours, exploring who knows where. These days they poke around the barn and the trees close to the house, and then they take up their watchful positions on the front porch, content to be together.

This is not what I would really want for them. I miss those days when I could let them out and in 5 seconds they’d be out of sight. I miss the days when they were young and spry and full of youthful enthusiasm. But God is using them to teach me something again.

I can’t help but think about the young person who knows that perhaps they’re not making the best choice, that it’s not really the direction God would have them to go. But much like my younger labs, I was willing to postpone what was pleasing to God in lieu of chasing the equivalent of squirrels, my own idea of fun in those days. But as I get older and experience more problems and trouble, I find myself desiring just to be with God, in His word, thinking about His ways and what pleases Him.

I like Dan White’s article from December 2017 because it’s another analogy to express the same thing. We too often spend our time looking down, looking at our world, our agenda, our squirrels to chase. What we really need to do is to look up, focus on what pleases God, and seek to follow His direction for our lives, regardless of the troubles and sorrows.

This world is not our home. And we can’t live like it is. We can’t spend our time acting as if this is all there is., as if this were the goal. We are given this time, as a gift from God, to become His Bride, to be prepared for what comes next, and to share His light with the people around us. We can’t get so distracted by this life, with its pain and trouble, that our light grows dim. Or as Kent Hovind used to say, You can’t be “so earthly minded that you’re no heavenly good.”

Or perhaps you want it expressed in song:

Lift up your head. Redemption draweth nigh.

To the hills I’ll lift my eyes. Ah from whence shall come my help. My help comes from the LORD, maker of heaven and earth.

The turning of the calendar from 2019 to 2020 is not God’s calendar. But it is still another marker in the passage of time. It’s also a really good opportunity to evaluate where we are, where we’re going, and take some necessary steps to refocus our eyes on the Master. God can use all of what we’re experiencing in our education as disciples, in our purification as the Bride of Christ, in our sanctification as the people of God.