Do You Believe It? [Prelude]

The Bible has number of "old stand-bys", phrases that we all clench in our figurative fist and hold on to for dear life: Verses like, "Trust in the Lord, with all thine heart", or perhaps "All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God", or maybe even John 3:16 - the gospel in a nut shell, and "In the Beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth." We all have our comfort zone verses, our preaching verses, and our verses that we cling to.

Or we don't.

Have you ever thought about that?

What if you didn't have the verses that you cling to?

Many of our minds are rapidly switching to thoughts of others, who don't know Christ, who don't have the comfort we know. Who..... are lost sinners in need of a Saviour.... they don't have the verses. Ah, our hearts go out to them, do they not? Ours fervent minds cry out "It's time! It's time to reach out to them, before its too late!"

But I'm not thinking of them this time.

"What?" You ask me.

No, I'm thinking of us -

What if you didn't have the verses that you cling to?

We love to play games and the What If game is one of many silly, fun, hilarious pastimes. We play "What If", but we don't like seriously asking what if. "What if " is scary.

So, the questions are:

1. If you didn't have your Bible -- Would you miss it?

2. If you didn't have your verses hidden away in your heart, would you flounder?

3. If you only had your "cling-to verses", would you miss the rest of the Bible?

Are you reading your Bible enough to miss it if it were gone?

Well, as you can see from the title of this post, this is the prelude to a number of thought that have been tumbling through my head recently. Our Bible is fading away, and I hope to explain how.

Pray About Everything

Time is tight and money's short
River's up and the weatherman
He's calling for another storm
Pressure's on, the margins thin
Gotta figure out a fix for this awful fix I'm in
Oh Mama, what am I gonna do
She said, "Child there's only one thing you can do"
Chorus:
Don't worry 'bout nothing
Let it go, see what tomorrow brings
Don't worry 'bout nothing
Pray about everything
Pray about everything

Love is blind,fate don't care
Lose your grip
And your balloons go sailing off into the air
Oh Mama,what am I gonna do
She said,"Child,there's only one thing you can do"


Don't worry 'bout nothing
Let it go, see what tomorrow brings
Don't worry 'bout it stress about it,fret about it
Don't worry 'bout nothing
Let it go, see what tommorrow brings
Don't worry 'bout nothing
Pray about everything
Yeah,pray about everthing

Bombay India & Colonial Briton Decor

Since it is now mid summer, I am writing even less than I was before. Summer in my mind is a time for books and sun tanning. I've taken to the outdoors in the sunshine, and the sewing table in the rain. Scattered across my virtual desk, I have left remnants and snid-bits of posts & would be posts. And here is one of the snid-bits.

I am not the adventurous interior decorator that Kammy is (check out her amazing projects here http://kammyskorner.blogspot.com/), but every once in a while I take the time to work on a "big" project - aka one that is not finished in a day.

I was shopping around, mindlessly, looking for dishes in Value Village (secondhand store) when I saw this amazing little desk for $60 dollars. I'm not positive but it looked Bombay Inc worthy. The legs were a bit wobbly and the finish was a medium brown color that was scuffed a bit. 60 was definately more than I wanted to pay, and I wasn't sure if it was worth it.

My solution was to drag my dear mom to the store. She was cautious - a desk that needed work? "Ashley, you don't even use desks, you had one and never used it." She had a point.

I would rather sit on the floor, on my bed, etc.

I guess the desk is properly called a Secretariat. She new at once it was worth fixing. (Mom's a genius in refurbishing ) Since I still wasn't happy with the price, I talked the fellow down to $40.00. I think in all it took 3 days to finish, sanding and a couple coats of stain and it was finished.

And no, I never use it as a desk -- but it does look very pretty :)

May the Grace of Our Lord Be with You

The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Numbers 6:25-26

Today, I was sewing for awhile after I came home from work. (Sewing is a great opportunity to "sit & think" -- or ponder, rather.) As I sewed, the lyrics of a song kept interrupting my thoughts. "May the grace of our Lord be with you...may you be blameless to the end." - words from Omega by Rebecca St. James.

May the Grace of our Lord be with you. I began to think of the verses in the Bible associated with her lyrics. I'm not as fond of the first verse of her song, but I do like the chorus and the last verse in particular -- perhaps because the last verse is a verse from Jude and the chorus is mainly from Jude & Revelation. (I love it when the lyrics come straight from a verse.)

I looked the song up on you tube, and after listening to it, I began to wonder about blessings. Christendom pronounces "blessings", the Evangelical world says "God bless you", the world blesses a sneeze, but what is a blessing?

Blessings come from God -- Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed....And God granted him that which he requested.

I don't really have anything to add to the whole blessings topic, but here is the song :).

Childlike Memories

(Illustration to the Russian fairy-tale

'Go There You do not Know Where, Bring That You do not Know What')

I am sitting on my bed, listening to the sound of night creatures singing and the neighbors' far off whispers as they sit around a bonfire. The country air sways my curtain back and forth in tune to a secret song. The gentle breeze brings fond memories of "Cousin Nahum" and commando games in the dark. The memories stealthy gather from the corners of my mind and promptly assembly in a warm cheery circle, just waiting to be told.

Ah, yes, memories are social creatures, story tellers who imagine themselves sages. Who knows, perhaps they are? Like us all, there are bad memories and good memories. Tonight, mine are good, warm, and fond.

In their bright circle, they sit warming up, smiling. Ah, memories what funny creatures you are! But they don't see me watching, and good thing too, they would scatter. No, you have to catch a memory unawares if you want to see a story. I am waiting.

'Cousin Nahum' rises to his invisible feet. Well, come to mention it, Cousin Nahum is completely invisible. The Russian folk tales say that a Czar sent Ivan to "I don't know where" to bring back an "I do not know what", if Ivan was successful, he could marry the beautiful Vanessa. Ivan brought back Cousin Nahum, who was an invisible-wish-granting "I do not know what".

We loved that story. Cousin Nahum could grant any wish. In the story, when Ivan said, "Cousin Nahum, open the door!" the door would open of its own accord. We lamented that Russians had all the fun with their Cousin Nahum's and their adventures. If only we had a Cousin Nahum!

One day, I realized the cross-breeze made my bedroom door swing back and forth. The wind was so timely, that the door would open on the count of four everytime. Elated, I counted to 2 and said "Cousin Nahum, open the door!" The door opened -- opened by the cross breeze blowing it open.

Now, we had a "I do not know what" from "I do not know where" just like in the story. We had great fun playing jokes on our friends in the future. So, today, the cross breeze was gently swinging the door. "Cousin Nahum--" the door opened. I smiled, "Its good to have you back." What grand adventures can be found in childlike memories.

Ps 27 - When

Oh, I love Psalm 27! My Sunday School teacher made me memorize it when I was about 12. I no longer know all of it in sequence, but the verses do pop into my head at random intervals. I really should be more diligent about having my s.s. class memorize verses. I could write out the whole chapter... but I think I'll just post the verses in my head at the moment...

The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

the LORD is the strength of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

... in this will I be confident...

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me...

he shall set me up upon a rock...

Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice:

have mercy also upon me, and answer me....

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face;

my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

When my father and my mother forsake me,

then the LORD will take me up.

Teach me thy way, O LORD,

and lead me in a plain path...

Perhaps, we have not been shown a plain path, because we have not asked for one?

If you get a chance, count the number of "whens" in this chapter and the occasions for them.

It's rather interesting.

God's Time

I know not everything in this song is doctrinally sound... ie. growing angel wings? ....

but it came on the radio on the way home from work and I thought it was kind of neat.

I had never heard it before, but it reminded me that waiting for God's timing is always inmportant.

***

Lyrics

In God's time
A million years might only be a single day
And everything He does gets done His own way
In God's time

And in God's time
You'll find that certain someone you've been praying for
And they'll be everything you dreamed of and a little more
In God's time

Oh, but no one knows
Not you or me
It might be tomorrow or it might never be
Oh, but don't lose faith
Put it in His hands
'Cause it might be that He might have a bigger plan
Than you had in mind
[ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/GTKp ]
Miracles happen
In God's time

And in God's time
You'll finally get the chance to hold your baby girl
And all the sudden everything'll make sense in this crazy world
In God's time

Oh, but no one knows
Not you or me
It might be tomorrow or it might never be
Oh, but don't lose faith
Put it in His hands
'Cause it might be that He might have a bigger plan
Than you had in mind
Miracles happen
In God's time

And In God's time
You go to sleep and wake up with wings and learn to fly
And you finally meet your loved ones on the other side
In God's time