Deeper Furrow

  Lakeport Luke 5:1 “ And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, ”      Saw a bit of a documentary on Billy Graham yesterday.   The ones were gathered about him.   He was popular too.   Lots of suits and ties.   Good haircuts and secret service when around the president.   He flowed through the masses right into the getaway cars.   On to another gig.   His calling I don’t understand so I don’t put him down.   Sounds like he was a great guy approved by many.   It was strange to see the streets filled and tents bursting.   Did I miss this?   Born in 1970, my rebirth was to happen years later.      Jesus’ crowd knew little manners.   Desperation propelled them forward to plunge him under Gennesaret waves.   If not for Peter’s boat, the Master would have had to back float and teach those packed upon t...

  The Call To Worship      Yah, but why?   A thousand reasons not to make the trip from warm covers to a cold pew.   Ducking under the doorway, doing the singing and waiting, then existing out to a Chief’s game on the tube.   A weekend show.   It just wasn’t as entertaining as Saturday morning cartoons.   Hopefully the message was more intellectually challenging.      Corporate worship is just that.   Togetherness.   The term in this sense describes individual believers coming together as one.   What is done in secret is now exposed unashamedly.   That Jesus person deserves some extra special attention, and we show that when we come together.      Still, gotta wake up for something.   If the first cup of coffee isn’t enough then the greeting of the family may be provoking enough to get those feet on the floor.   When His children come together, magic happens or a...

  Metaphorically Speaking      My biz is my biz.   Talked with my son recently.   He said everything was free game for his coworkers.   Knee deep in hedonism threatening to fall headlong into pig mire, their slithery tongues lick dung and smile.   Nothing private about their private lives.   Contrary to us who are confidants, revealing little that would damage trust.      I admire my son.   He stands upright in a profession that has bent many a man.   “Being one of the guys” means dipping into the flesh pot and smoking a bowl to deaden sensitivity.   He faces this every day of employment.   It is his battlefield.   Straining to reason with chemically addicted ones given to selfish desires. Stick it to the man and grab for home anything of worth they can sneak under the company’s wire.   Tools gone?   Check Jimmy’s truck.      My son is no whinner. He simply...

  God’s YoYo Exodus 19:3a  “ And Moses went up unto God, and the  Lord  called unto him out of the mountain,”  Exodus 19:8b “And Moses returned the words of the people unto the  Lord . ” Matthew 14:19  “ And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake , and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. ”      I saw Mom cutting up the meat for her girls.   Too big of chunks and they could choke.   She ran to the oven to get more.   “Too hot!” she said warning little hands.   Oven mitts on, dino nuggets came next.   Complete with dippy dippy sauce. They got smiles on their faces.      Jesus’ 5000 got happy and sat in the grass.   Bellies full they returned from where they came.   Success in sending the multitude away?   Perhaps a current ...

  A Tail Of Two Trains Luke 15:20  “ And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. ” BNSF – Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway      Have you ever heard from an old friend?   So old that you did not recognize his voice?   In the speaker of the phone, words are spoken that reached back to span experiences to childhood when the air was pure and the sky shown its light unfailingly.   Such were those days in rampant denial yet come back as a storm cloud advancing in front.      The power of the past in years gone by inflicts the soul and makes me shake.   A tinge of regret and I wonder if I caused a derailment.   Words spoken in ignorance of compassion thrown and I suck up the fruit of my wondering mouth yesterday.    Enough to cause my head to spin, my morning is grasping for a l...

  Such Heavy Writings!      Isn’t discipleship more than correction and admonition?   Surely.   Even the disciples stopped to smell the roses when they walked with the Master.   Sometimes you need to put the blues away and let your brain go to the jazz.      Jazz is known for its ability in propensity.   It gives freedom to vent a man’s spirit by breath of non-orchestrated fume rising upward to the heavenlies.   As if speaking in tongues were a sign, then jazz gives reassurance to man’s makeup.   There is something hidden within him that expresses itself.   To deny a man’s spirit is to link us with the animals.   We certainly share animation, yet we possess the soul.      This morning is the Avalon Jazz Band to my earphones.   Primarily a French composition of players, they are certainly music to my happy ears!   Singing in French, my brain is not taxed with filtering...

  Your Body Is A Temple “Beginning of the End” – Bride Romans 12 1 Corinthians 6: 19  “ What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. ”      Abortion is on the docket again this year.   It must be a hard plank driven into the soul of a party to guarantee a women a right to choose like standing in front of a vending machine.   Fifty cents buys convenience and down drops the received gratification.   Eating the insides and discarding the wrapper on the floor, back to work unencumbered.      Praise to the ones that answer the higher calling!   Children take work.   Bending, twisting and vaulting everyday hurdles just to make sure the nutrition gets to their mouths in time.   Crying and whining in the middl...

  Rock Of Ages, Cleft For Me Daniel 2: 44  “ And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 45  Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; ”      As a meteor descending from the heavens, He did not burn up on entry.   Krypton knew His name.   Weakening superman, the man Jesus took down the Roman Empire.   Nero burned his own bed, and Constantine bowed his head to the cross.   Up from the catacombs, zombies did the dance having died once yet now living.      He came as Equalizer, loaded gun in His hand.   He said His words would never fail.   Once out of His mouth, they were commiss...

Rant And Rave Matthew 13:42 “ And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ” Acts 7:54”  When they heard these things they were  [ h ] cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with  their  teeth.” (NKJV) 2 Peter 2:5 “ And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; ”      Think it no big thing if they make a stink.  Resistance is not a new thing.  The gospel goes forth like a grass fire burning the dross and leaving behind a clearing for new growth.  Some are not happy with the flame.  In fact, they muster an opposing wind in hopes it will turn back on itself, but Jesus’ heat is jalapeno hot.  His Church will not be thwarted.  He sees to it as He has for the last 2,000 years. Matthew 16:18 : And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this...

  When Machines Make Our Food      Yesterday saw three women with children working the kitchen.   Momma and daughters peeled, boiled, pulverized, hot water bathed, and finally sealed applesauce in the ever popular Mason jars.   Glass hides nothing.   Maybe that’s the picture.      I think we ran into problems when canned goods were introduced to America.   Sometime around WWII the market really took off.   Postwar found Mom strolling through the grocery store stocking up on weekly supplies.   Preservatives came next as an added stream to the river of convenience.   The pressing flow became current when little Eddie grabbed his vitamin fortified, sugar-frosted nothingness.   Filling his belly with industrial chemicals, teacher wondered why his attention bounced about like a superball.   ADHD?   Could it be an avalanche in the making?   Snow came in layered deposition.   A shock so...

  The Hollowcost I didn’t misspell.   It’s a play on words except, in this case, there were no winners.   “ The Holocaust was Nazi Germany's deliberate, organized, state-sponsored persecution and genocide of approximately six million European  Jews . ” - a quote taken from the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.      I am no fool.   I do not deny the Horrific that words cannot describe.   My brothers and sisters were gathered and forced to eat poison like unwanted rats.   Oh, I know how they died.   Again, a figure of speech.      I am reminded of a success story.   King Ahasuerus’ second proclamation allowed the Persian Jews to fight for themselves.   That they did.   Now we have Purim to commemorate the rallying cry against Hamman’s plot.   The one to exterminate in the name of pride because of Mordecai’s unwillingness to bow.   We celebrate that event yearly, but ther...