Deeper Furrow

  Who He Made Us To Be "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be  born   again , he cannot see the kingdom of God. ..." "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the  propitiation  for our sins." "And if children, then  heirs ;  heirs  of God, and joint- heirs  with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."  " In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."      I had a talk with my son yesterday.   We were celebrating his middle daughter’s baptism.   Very proper as she spoke into the microphone and told the congregation why she came this far to obedience.      It’s all about change.   We have got to change.   Maybe a poor metaphor, but a snake continually sheds its skin. It grows and something has to give.   So she made that decision

What If I’m Glad To Be Here?      Please don’t tune me out when I say he’s name.  I remember a State of the Union Address when President Trump inspired me.  He talked, he directed those assembled to the attention which he wanted to shine the spotlight upon.  Those in the balcony, in various appropriate attire, as the Commander in Chief of the United States of Amerca told their stories.  What honor!  I watched.      He lifted up and recognized the ones who had done remarkable things.  Things that demanded self-sacrifice and the very thread America was woven with.  He drew all these stories back to our forefathers.  Somehow his speech, which was more than rhetoric and amen answers, sparked a pride in me but not in the wrong way.      I have been to Germany.  In Italy, I served as we dropped bombs to protect those who could not protect themselves.  I had flown the “pond” of the Atlantic a couple times after kissing the Med in a great city called Venice.  I had seen good in these cou

  From Brother’s Porch      Please indulge me a bit while I recreate the view I see as I wake into this morning.      In Blakesburg, Iowa is a house.   Its porch faces the west and runs about it a handrail.   Let us say a type of family reunion were called to sit and appreciate the Son as He went down.   I am referring to the sunset, but His time on the cross speaks in blazing oranges and bloodied reds as the sun sinks lower in a darkening sky.   Who would appreciate?   Who would look and be still?      I would start with Grandma Nellie.   She, being Grandpa Delmar’s mother, would sit and remind us of times in her Mission Hill house making egg pancakes.   Another time she would recall when her little Cor caught the big bass from her nearby pond.   Finally, she may smile a big Norwegian smile and tell of the Easter baskets she hid behind her living room chairs for her visiting grandchildren.   That made her happy.      Grandpa Delmar then would start in with, “Cor, remember tha

  The Wild Google Map Man Guy Colossians 2:14  “ Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; ”      Ah that little guy gets picked up by the scruff of the neck and is dropped at my will.   He calmly waits my direction as he stares blankly at a house.   Moused arrows lay about the streets and his invisible body follows.   “Click, blur, click, blur” like he is running with the camera.      Interesting note about the little man, he always minds his manners.   I don’t ever see him accost the cyclist or vagrantly trespass lawned properties.   He’s a nice guy.      We are not like him.   He keeps to his streets.   We run amuck.   He yields the right-of-way while we plow the intersection.   In fact, Mr. Google Guy doesn’t light houses afire or tip over garbage cans.   We are known for that.      So it is another tangent of inspired understanding of one verse nestled in the context of

  America’s Canaan Genesis chapter 10 and 11      Very closely in my mind do the Native Americans or the Indigenous Peoples of North America resemble the Canaanite tribes in which Abraham faced in his sojourning about his promised land.   With that said, I can draw much criticism or at least an egging of my house.   But hear me out.     Let’s say it was as God said in Genesis 10.   Noah’s son Japheth gave gentile descendants who spread to the coastal areas. This dispersion superseded the great tower of Babel at which the Lord confused the one pure language.   After this act, Japheth’s sons (descendants) would have journeyed further eastward from Shinar.   This would have placed them the region of China, Mongolia and even the Pacific region.   In Peleg’s time later, the earth divided to separate Man even more.   However unclear and theories exist but this one is plausible.      As the peoples from Japheth migrated eastward across land, the Pacific plate could have gone under and

  For Whom The Bell Tolls Exodus 25 Hebrews 13:4 Luke 2 1 Samuel 1 Genesis 2 Numbers 17:8 Numbers 16:10        “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them.”      I trust God will synthesize the verse references that the revelation might be clear.      Let’s work from the inside out.   Inside the ark of the covenant were to be the jar of manna, the testament, and Aaron’s rod that budded.   Above the mercy seat were to be two cherubim facing each other with wings outstretched.   Outside the holy of holies was to be a candlestick of seven lamps.   Israel was to be a light to the nations.   In him was to be God’s truth ranging from justice to mercy.   His light was to shine across the darkness illuminating a better way that Mankind not trip in his own ignorance.   “What a man sows, surely shall he reap.”   God was not to be mocked and He pitied Man to show him a better way through His chosen people.      That was supposed to h

                                                         Time to Wake From Inebriation Revelation of Jesus Christ 1:1  “ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: ”      I have heard of Time to Revive.  It is a ministry which came to my city.  It runs in tight knit circles of Evangelical Christians crying out for change in their communities.  This ministry gives tools and challenges the pew sitters to embrace the neighborhoods with the Gospel of Jesus Christ with an emphasis on soul winning.  A baptism booth on wheels follows close behind with big tents of gathering declaring our God is on the move saving and transforming lives as only He can do.  It is another faith breathing movement God has orchestrated by His grace.  That is Time to Revive.      There is another movement stirring.  It spawns discord and leaves warring brothers in a

  We Bear This Responsibility Joshua chapter 4 specifically verse 24      And we of the Word, who know these stories owe it to the world to dispel them.   As fragrance goes from a blown flower bloom, we are to declare that faith is attainable and real.      This is no ordinary God dreamed up by the imaginations of men used to control and manipulate masses.   This God does not breathe war into His subjects.   Nor does He call us to light ourselves afire in the village square to protest an ill principle.   With those of ears and those who can read, He gives a rich inheritance by revealing His mind, heart, soul and will.   He has opened Himself to inspection.   He calls us as creatures to search Him and His calling.   His personage He has laid before our senses in His creation which screams loudly of His care.   So, we have.      Joshua was to set up the memorial stones.   When the children would come back and ask, their grandparents could exclaim, “Yep! Yep! That’s where it happe

  Children Have A Responsibility To Ephesians 6 :1   “ Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2  Honour thy father and mother ; which is the first commandment with promise; 3  That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. ”      Is God in the killing business?   Not necessarily.   Surely His grace reigns upon the ignorant as He decides to deflect His wrath in His mercies.   Punishment   is not His first go to.   But, as with His character, He cannot betray Himself.      I take it that you are not a child.   If you access this blog, I would guess you are an adult.   So what does this verse mean to us today?   I mean: Genesis 2 :24 “ Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. ”      We are supposed to leave and create our own family unit.   Such independency!   Free at last!   Not quite.   The strings are still there.      If you hold the family name as with

Any Lords Out There?      “Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.  Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.”      Do we need to cite the passage?  It is not hidden in there.  In 1 Peter 3, God describes His idea of a healthy marriage relationship.  It is the unit.  It is to function.  And these are the guidelines.      Men!  Are we lords today?  Not some archaic idea.  On the contrary, lordship today has all the explicative implications to the hilt.  Reviewing Abraham, he was a man in charge of his household.  I am not talking of the foolish decision he made in yielding to his wife’s voice in the giving of Hagar as his mistress.  I am talking of the 99.9% of the time he spent commanding his small army with many livestock as the

  About Baptism      Water baptism.   I am no authority on Holy Spirit baptism, so I do not write to mislead anyone.   But water baptism, He has commanded and remains to be one of the sacraments of many a Protestant denominations.   Must be important.   Even as important as communion.      What do we say when we go under?   “I am ashamed.”   I am ashamed of the life I once lived.   Previously to Jesus’ life, I lived in a wanton manner.   I committed lewd acts and was by nature a child of the beast.   Sin?   I knew not sin until His law bound me and cornered me.   It condemned my lascivious acts in the flesh and led me to the cross as a schoolteacher with a stick in her hand.   I testify freely of the work His life-giving Word has wrought in me.   How thankful I am that He pierced the serpent head, nailing it to the ground from which it came.   That serpent writhed in me and caused me to breathe up contortions in words so aimed at the One who loved me.      Does this seem farfetch

  I Can Tell You Where Jesus Is “ 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. ” “ And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. ” “ But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? ” “ And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. ” He ain’t here!      No seventy-foot Jesus’.   We don’t just invite Him over for a cozy bunch of tea.   He doesn’t tuck us into bed each night.   He is, the Almighty and He has a place.      All Heaven is reserved for Him.   Only a habitation as such is worthy of this man’s presence.   Whoa!   Did I say man?   Yes, according to scripture, He inhabits a glorified body now.   “Don

  Let’s Take A Hike      Ever meet a child just where they were?   On their level, at their perception.   To explore the world through their senses as they embarked to tell you their “first” at a stopped moment in time.   The time we would call hesitation or in derogatory ways, an “irritation.”   Have you ever stepped into their car as a rider and let them drive into what they thought was important?      Yes, so much here is bent on getting the show on the road.   What do little ones know about schedules and running errands and getting the bills paid?   Time!   Time!   We preach it to them that the watch has a mouth like some fiery steam locomotive.   We must keep shoveling it the coal, the sooty dirty coal toiled in our sweat and grind, else the great train of justification stop on her rails and God forbid we stop, step off the track, and smell the wild flowers.      It’s a scary hike in the wilderness, off the rose rocked property.   The smell of creosote and oil leaves us as we

  What If We Gave Them Something They Could Keep? Proverbs 13:22a “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children:…”      American Idol.   Yah, you’ve all seen the T.V. show.   We are all supposed to sing like that guy or gal I suppose.   At least we are supposed to clap when they render a good performance.   Such can be with runners and the race.      Didn’t He say He would reward those who persevered?   Through trying times, the Godly are refined and drawn closer to Him as more insulating dross is removed.   But as we draw closer to Him, our relationships with our brothers and sisters draw in also.   In marriage, we have a more sure foundation to build upon because the tie is initiated with a covenant.   So what have I to give my grandchildren?      Some years ago, my grandfather died and left our family a gift of money.   He didn’t know how bad our growing family needed a tile floor in the kitchen!   It wasn’t easy cleaning Kool Aid spills off of brown carpet..