QQC--The NERVE!

Quirks, Queries and Commentary—Exodus 12:32

The last plague has hit Egypt. All the firstborn sons and animals have been killed unless they were inside a building that was marked with blood on the door. Pharaoh and all Egypt have had it. “Go, already!”

But wait! Pharaoh has a request: “Please bless me!”

Excuse me? You’ve enslaved God’s people for centuries, you’ve ordered the death of their newborn sons, you’ve refused to let God’s people go all the times they’ve asked and now you want a blessing? I don’t think so!

But we don’t know. Did Moses bless him? Or not? What is your guess?

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"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult

Anna was a designer baby, engineered to be a perfect tissue match for her older sister who is dying from a rare form of leukemia. But when does she get to have her own life? When does she get to say if and when her body can be harvested for parts? What if her sister's needs collide with her own?

Campbell is an expensive lawyer who assumes that any teen girl who wants to hire his services would be better served by Planned Parenthood and really doesn’t want to mess with a thirteen-year-old—especially one whose vocabulary and technical knowledge exceeds some assistants he’s had. He agrees to help her sue her parents for the right to her own body in exchange for polished doorknobs but can he win the case? Does the girl really want him to?

Sara is Anna’s mother who knows more about leukemia, hospitals and edge-of-life living than any mother should. She simply wants her eldest daughter to live and enjoy life for as long as possible. It’s ridiculous to even imagine that the younger one might not.

Brian is Sara’s husband—a firefighter who deals with life and death as part of his job. Is Anna right to sue them? Whose life is more important?

Jesse is the oldest child. He’s been pretty much left to his own devices since he is not needed in the frequent life and death battles that centre around his eldest sister. Instead, he plays with matches, high-speed driving and anything else that will get him noticed—not that it ever helps.

Julia has been appointed Anna’s guardian ad litem to untangle the complexities between she who is suing and they who are being sued as they live under the same roof. How many of Anna’s decisions are hers alone and how many are influenced by her need to please her parents? What are her best interests?

Kate is in desperate need of a kidney. Because of her compromised system, no kidney will work except from Anna. If she doesn’t get it within the week, she will die. The tangle must be unravelled and a decision reached quickly. The need is urgent.

Each character, but Kate, tells his or her part of the story first-person in alternating chapters. The issues and ethics are clearly not straightforward and the separate views are insightful.

Again I thought about my sister Susan and all the medical care she needed after half her face was cooked, crushed between snow and hot manifold when she was two; of all the many visits to the plastic surgeon (I liked Dr. Merkle) and hospital (I wasn’t allowed to visit—rules were stricter then about age of visitors), the times of recovery following.

My response wasn’t to act out like Jesse in My Sister’s Keeper, though I was very jealous of the attention and gifts she got that I didn’t, but to be as good and as perfect as possible. I was thirteen months older than Susan yet many of the parts of her medical journey are lost to my memory. I remember her surgeon, the Punkinhead bear from Eaton’s that she treasured, the slippers with squeeze-so-they-squeak heads bobbing on the top, a photo in my mind of her head swathed in bandages and gauze, the time she began to haemorrhage from her latest surgery that caused Mom to faint. I remember the time I bashed her over the head with a cast iron frying pan because she wasn’t doing the dishes as Mom said and it was my job to make sure she did.

It’s amazing how a novel about someone else can evoke such memories and emotional turmoil. I wish Susan was still living. I’d like to tell her how sorry I am. It’s taken nearly fifty years but I finally get it.

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QQC--Grace and Belief

Quirks, Queries and Commentary—Exodus 9:13-19

God provided a way out of the devastation of the plague of hail. If the Egyptians would bring their animals and workers into shelter, they would not be affected by the plague. In order to take advantage of this grace of God, however, they had to believe that God would really do what he said he would do and then act on it. Not everyone did.

We can be like that. God offers his grace to us but until we believe that he will do what he says he will do, we're not likely to accept that grace. Despite our theologies, we are often a people of very little faith.

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"Freeing the Sabbath"

The floors were washed and waxed, furniture dusted and polished, clutter cleaned up, schoolwork put away, the aroma of tomorrow’s meals filled the senses. All work was done and now was a time to rest and relax. It was Friday evening, the sun had set and Sabbath had begun.

I grew up in a Seventh-day Adventist home where Sabbath-keeping was de rigour. It put us out of step with everyone else, and many of my peers disliked the restrictions but I have fond memories of those days.

“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” “Holy” means set apart and as you read the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) you can see that no work was allowed—not even for the servants and slaves.

I attribute my love of God and knowledge of the Bible to the observation of the Sabbath as a child—at least in part. What child would not love an entire 24-hour period where no housework, no schoolwork, no work of any kind was allowed (though farm kids had chores to do—cows needed to be milked, for example, and animals needed to be fed)?

No work and nothing secular was allowed, including anything that involved the transaction of money. The books we read, the games we played, the music we listened to on that day was only Christian. Even the places we went were determined by this rule—time out in nature or at a park was encouraged, downtown, shopping malls and restaurants were not. Our home didn’t have a television but those families who had one, turned it off. This was a day to put everything aside except for God and to focus on him. Friday nights, especially, were special times of welcome peace and calm after a busy week.

Saturday mornings were reserved for church, followed by the noon meal (usually a full dinner) shared with others—whether at their home or ours or a potluck at the church. Sometimes the afternoon was spent napping. In one home we visited on occasion, the men and women would go to separate rooms, the women stripping from their Sabbath-best, down to their slips, and sleep for an hour or two. Other afternoons we’d visit nursing homes with our “Sunshine Bands,” singing and visiting the old folks.

Sabbaths ended with a vesper service that straddled the time of sunset—starting while it was still Sabbath and ending after the Sabbath was over. Here in Winnipeg, the sun sets sometime between 4:00 and 4:30 in the winter and, in the summer, between 9:30 and 10:00 (everyone had a sunset calendar for the year so we would know the exact time Sabbath began and ended) and the time of the evening service adjusted accordingly.

Saturday night was often a social evening with the church gathering in the school gymnasium for sports and games or some other form of entertainment.

I left the SDA church the year I was seventeen and began to attend a non-denominational church—the one I eventually raised my children in. There were a lot of differences and a major one was the change in the weekly rhythm of observing Sabbaths.

Paul, in Colossians 2:16, 17 writes:

So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new-moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules were only shadows of the real thing, Christ himself.

Throughout the New Testament, it is made clear that the outward forms of Judaism are not only not required, but a way of trying to work for one’s salvation that Paul repeatedly condemns. Still, the idea of setting one day aside for God is appealing to me—an escape from the rat race. Sunday is the day I keep and I try to ensure we have milk in the fridge and gas in the car beforehand so that such purchases on Sunday are unnecessary. My observation of the day is not as rigid as when I was growing up, but it is still a day to remember, a day to rest, a day for a greater focus on God.

God, thank you for caring so much about us that you released us from work, one day in every seven.

Do you observe a day of rest or are all your days packed with work, school, and other activity? If you do rest one day a week, what does that day look like for you? How is it different? If you’ve never done this before but would like to try it, what day would you choose? How would you spend that day?

The above post was prompted by a question in the chapter "Freeing the Sabbath" in Learning from Jesus: A Spiritual Formation Guide by Renovaré

"Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult

Nineteen minutes—that’s all it took for a boy to shoot his way through his small-town high school, kill one teacher and ten students and wound many more. It’s the length of time it took for the police to be called, siren their way to the school and race through the scared, wounded and dead before apprehending the shooter. That’s all it took to change some lives forever.

As we are lead through the aftermath of the tragedy and through the trial from the perspective of several key people, the author takes us back to the beginnings. What would possess a teenager to wreak such carnage? Why did he make a special note to spare one girl?

At the end of her acknowledgements, Picoult writes: “...to all the thousands of kids out there who are a little bit different, a little bit scared, a little bit unpopular: this one’s for you.” Perhaps it’s because I was one of those thousands that this book resonated so clearly in me. It’s a story that discusses what we do to be accepted and what we do when we’re rejected—two themes predominant in my own story. I’ve always been different. I wasn’t always aware of how different I was and yet I knew I was. Still am, I think.

I think of my next sister younger than me. She had even more strikes against her with the scar that covered half her face. I miss her so much these days, yet I may have been the one who was cruellest to her—not because of her scar but because I wasn’t mature enough to know how else to enforce rules when I was left in charge. Neither of us charged through our school with a gun but in the end, she took her own life and I’ve been close to it at times.

These days, I defend others because in doing so, I defend myself. I help others because I’ve been in need of help. I’ve chosen to not mistreat others because I’ve been mistreated. The one exception is my husband Tom. For some reason, I have difficulty extending these kindnesses to him.

After I thought through some of these connections between the book and myself, I began to feel sick and a big knot formed in my abdomen. These are obviously issues I have yet to work out completely in my own life. Judi Picoult is an excellent writer who examines current-day ethics in an honest, forthright and clarifying manner and helps her readers see a situation from many sides. She’s good reading.

The one caveat about her books is that she manages to insert two or three sex scenes in each one. Normally I won’t touch such books—they’re too much of a temptation for me—but she is very circumspect (I want to say “chaste” but that’s a contradiction) in the ways she writes these and isn’t given to bawdy details or erotica so I haven’t found them to be a problem yet.

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Beatitudes for the Inner City

Blessed are the captive, for they will be set free.

Blessed are the marginalized, for they will be first in the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are the hungry, for they will be fed.

Blessed are the bruised and battered, for they will be healed.

Blessed are the lonely, for they will find friendship with God.

Blessed are those who sacrifice for others, for they will have an abundance.

Blessed are the mentally ill, for they will learn to rely on God.

Blessed are those who struggle with sin, for they will learn obedience.

Blessed are the tired, for they will find rest.

Blessed are the homeless, for they will have mansions in heaven.

Blessed are the unloved, for they will experience God’s love.

My church is in the middle of the worst part of town. Here we find gangs, drunks, sniffers, druggies, prostitutes, the homeless, the destitute and more. The largest ethnic population is aboriginal, who certainly have been marginalized and disenfranchised here in Canada. Many of the homeless are the mentally ill who have fallen through the cracks of the system intended to help them. Our people are hungry, bruised, battered, sick, lonely, often dishevelled and captive to sin, drugs and oppressors.

Lord, there are so many people in desperate need of you—they have no one else and no way else to be released from poverty, abuse and sin. So many of us can hide our need for you because we have a more ready supply of money to buy the things other than you that help us feel better, but these people have nothing. They are blessed, Lord, because their only way out is through you. There is no other way. Lord, I want to be part of your blessing team to these my church neighbours. Rescue them, please and bring healing to our neighbourhood—not by the sickness being moved elsewhere but with true healing of the people and the land. Thank you.

What sort of beatitudes would you write? Who are the “unblessable” around you?

The above post was inspired by the chapter "Redefining Blessedness" in Learning from Jesus: A Spiritual Formation Guide by Renovaré. The following questions were asked: "Come up with your own version of the Beatitudes, tailored to those people you see around you who may be considered unblessable by the rules of society. Why do you think these people are not considered by others to be prime candidates for the kingdom of God?"

QQC--Wasn't the Livestock Dead Already?

Quirks, Queries and Commentary—Exodus 9:1-7, 13-19

Hail was the seventh plague God brought upon Egypt. "Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every man and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die." But wait a minute! "All the livestock of the Egyptians died" in the fifth plague! What was left to be killed by hailstones except the people left out to work (poor blokes--surely they weren't Israeli slaves!)?

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QQC--"I Spared You for this Very Purpose!"

Quirks, Queries and Commentary—Exodus 9:13-19

As God led up to announcing the plague of hail to Pharaoh, he informed the monarch that he, God, could have wiped Pharaoh and all his people off the earth by this time, but he had chosen not to. Why? "I have raised you up [footnote: spared you] for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

That particular pharaoh existed for the very purpose of God showing his glory. It could be argued that God raised Pharaoh up specifically to torment his, God's, people. This sounds contrary to popular beliefs about God--God will do only good things for his people. Many people suffered under the slavery Pharaoh had imposed on the Israelites but this is the backdrop God needed to show his glory. If there was no fight with Pharaoh, God's people could have just picked up and left and God's glory and power would be doubted by everyone. Instead, not only were the Egyptians and Israelites impressed with God's might but so were all the nations in the region. This later proved to be a military asset for Israel because the kings knew Israel had a power they couldn't overcome. It is also a story repeated throughout the history of God's people, a reminder of why and who they should honour and worship. Would this have been possible had they not first been enslaved?

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"Terrify No More"

Terrify No More by Gary A. Haugen

Earlier this year, a man representing the International Justice Mission came to speak to my church. I was so fascinated by what he said that I bought all three books written by the president and founder of IJM. I finished the first two in a week or two. Oh that there were more doing what this Christian organization does!

In many places, not just third-world countries, slavery is a scourge that victimises millions of people including little girls who are sold or abducted into prostitution. We would all confess to being outraged that this is happening, but what can we do to stop it? If we find a way to remove the girls from the adults that control them, those adults will simply find more to abuse. The key, then, is to put the abusers out of business and send a message to others that the abuse will not be tolerated. This is what IJM does.

An important part of their work is undercover—operatives going to brothels posing as johns to gather audio and visual proof that particular adults are abusing specific children and itemizing, with proof, what, exactly, those abuses are. It is dangerous work. The operative can’t take equipment with him that makes it obvious what he is doing. If the abusers figure out they’re being cased, the agent will be killed. On the other hand, IJM’s attempts to have abusers arrested, charged and convicted will fall apart if there are any loopholes in their accusations.

Lawyers are needed to understand the law of the country where the abuse is happening, make connections with leaders in the country to obtain their co-operation, and to point out that the country’s own laws are being broken. Sometimes the police and other officials are complicit in and even protecting the abuse or, while innocent, need convincing that it is worthwhile to bring the evil-doers to justice.

Once all the proof and co-operation is obtained, there is the very difficult task of rescuing many girls at once at the same time as ensuring the perpetrators of their abuse can’t run away but are rather arrested. Not only so, but it must be done in a way that protects the girls from harm.

Further, after months or years of being held while smiling (customers want to believe the girls are enjoying their attentions and if the girls don’t look happy, their punishment will be worse than the rape), the girls need a lot of help to return to any semblance of normality and so aftercare must also be found.

Terrify No More is full of stories of how girls wind up in these places, the undercover and behind-the-scenes preparations to rescue them, the glitches and the successes of the actual rescue attempts and of bringing the perpetrators to justice. It is not easy reading but, as the author writes, “any serious contest with evil requires a painful confrontation with the truth. The greatest and most shameful regrets of history are always about the truth we failed to tell, the evil we failed to name. The greatest enemy in our struggle to stop oppression and injustice is always the insidious etiquette of silence.”

Rick Warren is quoted on the back cover: “If you’re tired of living an anemic life and you want to live courageously, get this book. Terrify No More is a suspenseful read that will introduce you to the new heroes of the faith—people who are willing to take risks to bring hope and freedom to those who need it most.” I agree.

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QQC--Why Not "Right Now!"?

Quirks, Queries and Commentary—Exodus 8:8-10

Pharaoh was understandably dismayed with all the frogs that had invaded the land, including the palace and his own bed and bakery so he called Moses, asking him to get rid of all frogs except those belonging in the Nile. When Moses asks him when he wants the frogs to leave, he doesn't say "Today!" but rather, "Tomorrow!" That's odd. I would have wanted them gone right away!

As an aside, I find it amusing that the dead frogs were more of a plague than the live ones because they stank. God could have made them disappear with a zap, but he allowed their carcasses to remain. I can imagine the Egyptians gathering all they could find to toss into the fire and then continue to find, like Easter eggs in my kids' rooms, the odd frog carcass for days and weeks afterwards. What a stinky mess!

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"Death by Love: Letters from the Cross"

Death by Love: Letters from the Cross by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears

The book arrived by mail during Holy Week this year and so, fittingly, I began to read it on Good Friday. Each of twelve chapters illustrates a truth about what Jesus accomplished on the cross: victory, redemption, sacrifice, gift of redemption, justification, propitiation, expiation, atonement, ransom, exemplar, reconciliation and revelation.

Each chapter tells the story of a traumatic event that changed one person’s life. These are reflected in chapter titles such as, “Demons are Tormenting Me,” “My Wife Slept with my Friend,” “I Molested a Child,” “My Daddy is a Pastor,” “My Wife has a Brain Tumor.” The story is brief, outlining what happened and how it has affected the person’s life.

Following each story is a pastoral letter by Mark Driscoll, looking at the person’s pain and/or sin through the lens of the Cross. Each letter uses the person’s story to highlight and explain what Jesus can be for that person in their need. The pastor holds no punches, confronting sin with direct and honest candidness and addressing the spiritual problem behind the pain with such statements as:

“As a new Christian, you possessed the raw masculine integrity that so many docile, neutered church guys have had pressed out of them under the weight of trying to be cheery in the hideous name of pleasantness, as if Jesus himself was little more than a well-medicated greeter at Wal-Mart. P. 74/75

“...your dream came true through the horror you always feared.”

“...because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross, God is not condemning us with suffering but will use suffering to sanctify us through affliction and make us more like Jesus, who ‘learned obedience through what he suffered.”

“I prayed with one of the sons, asking God to either bring their father to repentance or pour out his wrath on the man as an example. Within days, the father died of an unexplained, sudden explosion of his heart.”

“Your identity must be marked only by what Jesus Christ has done for you and no longer by what has been done by or to you.”

“Your father failed to defend you as a young woman. ...he did not know you well enough to see that you were hurting and needed your daddy.”

“When we can’t or don’t do anything about the hurt, the initial anger settles into bitterness, an intense resentment marked by animosity, hatred, cynicism, and contempt. It is cold, raw, destructive misery.” P. 220

“The theology of the cross seeks to know God through the seeming weakness, folly, failure and shame of the crucified Jesus. The theology of glory seeks to use God to avoid suffering, hardship, pain, shame, loss, and failure. The theology of the cross seeks to see suffering, hardship, pain, shame, loss and failure as opportunities to grow in an understanding, appreciation and emulation of the crucified Jesus.... The theology of the cross seeks Jesus, even if that should mean experiencing pain and poverty like Jesus.”

Following each letter, Gerry Breashears answers “common questions” about the theology in Mark Driscoll’s letters such as:

“All this talk of blood is gross. Why do we have to do that?”

“This sounds extremely judgmental. Didn’t Jesus say, ‘Judge not”?

“If God wants to forgive, why doesn’t he just do it?”

“How could God be good and still allow Jesus to suffer on the cross?”

As I identified with some of the stories told, I was blessed by the pastoral letters, which acknowledged the wrongs done to me as true injustices and gave me hope for healing because of the cross. Be prepared to have your perspectives changed.

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QCC--Is it Wrong because "They" Do It?

Quirks, Queries and Commentary—Exodus 8:1-10

The Egyptian magicians had been duplicating everything Moses did. They were able to turn their staffs into snakes, turn water into blood and now produce frogs. We know from the story that Moses wasn't evil or ungodly for producing frogs. It didn't matter how many frogs the magicians produced, Moses was obeying God in doing the same.

I've discovered something disturbing in some Christian circles. They say that because people in Eastern religions or the New Age movement meditate and use silence as part of their religious practices, if Christians are engaged in meditation or contemplative prayer, they are embracing Eastern and New Age spirituality. It is true that there is a dangerous move in some churches towards non-Christian spirituality but we need to be careful that we don't throw out the good with the bad.

The Egyptian magicians produced frogs, the sailors on the ship with Jonah prayed, the prophets of Baal offered a bull on an altar. That doesn't mean that Moses' production of frogs, Jonah's prayers or Elijah's offering of a bull at the same site were evil and ungodly.

Years ago I watched an episode of The Waltons that stuck with me. It was the time of World War II and the townspeople, in their angry response to what Hitler was doing gathered every book they could find written in German to throw in a large bonfire. John Boy saw in the heap of books a Bible. The people were horrified at what their hatred had led them to. They would have willingly burned a Bible, simply because it was German.

The Pharisees did the same with Jesus--accusing him of being the devil because surely what he did was not of God.

Let us be cautious in what we call evil for Jesus is much bigger than our petty, theological squabbles.

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Muslim Women and Girls Need Safety in North America

Just recently in Canada, there was a case of a mother, father and brother killing three teen girls and the father's ex-wife because of some offense by one of the girls and the ex-wife. How many women and girls are going to be killed before North American officials realize the very real danger many Muslim girls and women face, even though they've immigrated to our countries of freedom?

Court Expected to Send Runaway Teen Home Despite Muslim Honour Killing Fears

Friday, August 21, 2009
By Joshua Rhett Miller

YouTube

Rifqa Bary

A 17-year-old girl who fled to Florida after converting from Islam to Christianity will almost certainly be forced to return home to Ohio, experts say, despite her fears that she will become the victim of an honor killing for abandoning her parents' faith. Continue reading.

"Killing Fields, Living Fields"

Killing Fields, Living Fields: An unfinished portrait of the Cambodian Church--the Church that would not die is written by former Cambodian missionary, Don Cormack and, with gardening and farming imagery, is the sometimes dry and sometimes riveting history of Protestant Christianity in Cambodia, beginning in 1923 with the first converts and continuing until the time the book was written in 1998.

The communist Khmer Rouge took control of the government in 1975 and began to systematically torture and kill so many of their fellow countrymen that the entire country became one large concentration camp. People were killed for no reason and for every reason, their bodies left in mass graves. By 1995, 8,000 mass graves had been found with the expectation of finding as many as 20,000. Cambodia became known as the Killing Fields. What happened to the Church during the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge?

Even before that time, life was difficult for the Khmer (Cambodian) people. The author writes, “The only respite was to live in a world of fantasies and illusions rather than realities. Reality was too grim a fact and beyond their control.... Few women had a husband who would be faithful all through life [yet the woman was] a virtual slave both to husband and sons until grandmotherhood....”

Then the killing began. People began to realize “that to survive you must let all ambition, hope and emotion dry up, and concentrate your energy no further ahead than surviving each day at a time.... To hope in Angka [the “organization on high”] was fatal, and to trust even your spouse or brother was potentially suicidal.”

While many Christians died, and others found refuge overseas, the church survived. “Though frequently ridiculed and despised, there was no denying that Christians had a reputation for being generally more moral and honest, people of integrity. And wherever there was a humanitarian need, invariably there were Christians, Cambodians or foreign, on the spot with medicines and food. It appeared too that much of their suffering, and a good deal of the corruption and exploitation [in the refugee camps] was the work of those claiming to be Buddhist.”

I enjoyed the book because, while there are many books and articles about Cambodia, there is little written about God’s people there and how they endured.

Interestingly, only a week or so after finishing Killing Fields, Living Fields, the July issue of the National Geographic arrived, the cover story about Angkor, the seat of ancient Khmer Civilization: “Divining Angkor: After rising to sublime heights, the sacred city may have engineered its own downfall.” National Geographic Magazine, July, 2009

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Mennonites, Mennonites, Everywhere are Mennonites!

Southern Manitoba is filled with Anabaptists of the Mennonite and Hutterite traditions--traditions that object to war and fighting in war, though Anabaptism doesn't refer to pacificism but to adult baptism, which includes all Baptists. Because Mennonites are generously sprinkled through nearly all social, economic, political and religions groups here in Winnipeg and the rest of the province, it is helpful to know their origins. Joe Kissell, for "Interesting Thing of the Day," writes the following:

Anabaptism

The third way of Christianity

The history of Christianity is alternately fascinating and tragic—often both at the same time. I have always been amazed that the religion whose founder taught his followers to “turn the other cheek” and “love your enemies” has produced so much war, violence, and intolerance over the centuries. Equally amazing to me are the massive and seemingly irreconcilable differences between different brands of Christianity, and even between individual adherents of any particular brand. This is all the more poignant considering that, according to the New Testament, the one prayer Jesus offered for future generations of believers was “that they may be one”—he hoped that by their own unity, they would demonstrate the unity of God. Continue reading.

QQC--Frogs, Frogs Everywhere!

Quirks, Queries and Commentary—Exodus 8:1-10

Seven days after all the water in Egypt had been turned to blood, God produced so many frogs in the land, they were everywhere--in bedrooms and beds, ovens and kneading troughs. But frogs need water! What had happened to them when the waters were blood? Even frog eggs and tadpoles need water, not blood! There is no natural way this could have happened.

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Father Loses Second Son to Murder-by-Mother

"Mother, Boyfriend Charged in Death of Idaho Boy Found in Canal"

An 8-year-old boy, Robert Manwill, was murdered, allegedly by his mother and her boyfriend. What struck me (other than the question: How can a mother kill her own child?) was a paragraph near the bottom of the page:

This is Charles Manwill's second child to die violently. His former wife, Silke Fatma Manwill, stabbed their 4-year-old son, Michael, in the chest in 1993, killing him. She was sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and was released in 2002.

That father needs prayer for healing. I can't imagine having one of my children intentionally killed by the other parent, but to then have that repeated sixteen years later with a different child? Unfathomable!

He read a letter to his son at the funeral:

"Robert,

You were a little light in a dark and cruel world. And you were taken from us long before your life on this earth should have ended.

I remember before you were even born, talking to your mom on the phone late at night and she would hold the phone to her belly so I could say good night to our little sunshine. That's the way it was even before we knew that you would be a baby boy.... Continue Reading

God, please heal the pain in this father's heart. May he come to know you, who also had your Son violently murdered, and receive the comfort you long to give him. Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy!

QQC—Blood and Water

Quirks, Queries and Commentary—Exodus 7:19-24

When Pharaoh refused to let God's people go, God began a show of signs and wonders that were so amazing, they are remembered to this day. Moses met Pharaoh at the river's edge when Pharaoh went for his morning bath. Egypt revered the Nile for it was, by their observation, the source of all good that came to them but God told Moses to stretch his staff "over the waters of Egypt--over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs'--and they will turn to blood. Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in the wooden buckets and stone jars." When Moses did this, "all the water was changed into blood."

How then did the Egyptian magicians manage to do the same thing? Where did they find water that wasn't blood to turn into blood if blood was everywhere, even in wooden buckets and stone jars? And how were the people able to dig in the ground for water if all the water had been turned to blood?

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QQC--Deceptive Appearances (Or: How Could it Be God?)

Quirks, Queries and Commentary—Exodus 5:19-21

Moses made his way to Egypt and appeared to Pharaoh with this request from God: "Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert." (Another lie.) But Pharaoh not only refused but made the work of the slaves more difficult by not providing the straw needed to build bricks but not reducing the quota of bricks he expected to be made.

The Israelite foremen protested to Pharaoh but got nowhere so they complained to Moses: "May the Lord look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us." If someone came to your community or church and something they said or did resulted in dire consequences and possibly death for all the people, what would your assumption be? This can't be God! The Israealite foremen (and probably all the slaves) were no different. Certain that this was not God, they cursed the one God sent.

I wonder how often we do that.

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QQC— More Lying!

Quirks, Queries and Commentary—Exodus 4:18

After Moses returned home from the burning bush, he needed to tell his father-in-law he was going back to Egypt but for some reason didn’t want to give the real reason. What did he say? “Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.” Why did he find it necessary to hide the real reason? Did he think Jethro would laugh at him? Throw him in the nearest mental institution? Was he still unsure that God could really use him to set his people free?

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QQC— He Ran from the Snake

Quirks, Queries and Commentary—Exodus 4:1-5

At the burning bush, in answer to Moses’ concern that he wouldn’t be believed that God sent him, God had him throw his staff to the ground and it became a snake. I’ve always thought of that snake as rather tame and harmless but Moses ran from it—Moses who had just spent forty years in the wilderness caring for sheep. Surely he had met things far worse than a snake, yet he ran from this one. However, despite being so afraid of the creature that he ran from it, when God told him to actually pick it up by the tail, he did! That is faith and trust!

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QQC--Another Blessed Lie

Quirks, Queries and Commentary—Exodus 3:18

It was at the burning bush where Moses, eighty years old, met God and received the instructions that would determine the rest of his life. He was to speak to the elders of Israel, tell them God’s intent to bring his people out of Egypt and then go to the king of Egypt and say these words that God gave him: “Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.”

God had no intention of letting them return to Egypt after they had been gone for three days. It was a ruse, a lie, he told Moses to tell to accomplish his great purpose.

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The Pirate's Consort

About a week ago, I introduced you to a sea slug that looks very much the pirate. Today I found the "perfect" mate for such a dashing swashbuckler. Doesn't she look elegant with her flowing ball gown (or, if you'd rather, her well-coifed hair)?

Both creatures live in the sea and both are called nudibranch. I haven't a clue what that means but I think their photographs are stunning. The diversity and beauty of God's creation is incredible. Thank you, God!

from National Geographic

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/translucent-nudibranch-pod.html

Perseverance and Hope

The last few weeks have been hard for me--it seems to take very little for me to fall apart and I have done that several times this summer. What do I do when I fall apart? Eat! I eat ice cream and cream-filled pastries and more ice cream, raisin bread toast slathered in butter, regular toast loaded with butter and honey--pretty much anything sweet that I can find. I've been doing a lot of this lately, becoming worse and worse as time progressed until yesterday I stuffed myself with only those foods whose nutritional value was incidental.

I could see what I was doing. I knew I would regret it later, but it was a compelling force that, though I could have ignored it, I didn't want to. My doctor says it comes out of a sense of deprivation inculcated into my mind when I was very little and reinforced through time. I know I eat for comfort but it certainly isn't comfortable to gain ten pounds in a month.

Yesterday, in the midst of it all, I took some notes of my thoughts.

"I overeat and make bad eating choices when I feel discouraged, when everything feels hopeless, when I question, 'What's the point?' So bad eating is, for me, a symptom of depression, a symptom of not valuing or of devaluing myself."

So what do I do? How do I break myself out of this behaviour?

Lies! I am embracing and living out of lies and taking them as truth. What are the lies?

1. Things are hopeless.
2. There's no point in trying.
3. It's not worth the stress.

Truths!

Well then, what are the truths? The word that came to me was "perseverance," so I searched online Bible study tools and found this:

1. Suffering produces perseverance,
2. Perseverance produces character,
3. Character produces hope.
4. Hope does not disappoint "because God has poured out his love into [my] heart by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given [me]." (Romans 5:3-5 NIV)
5. The "point" is that:

Suffering à

Perseverance à

Character à

Hope...

...that doesn’t disappoint.

I've been disappointed many, many times. Why? Did I have the wrong kind of hope? Was I hoping for the wrong things?

Hope. All the symbols in my prayer room are signs of hope--that God loves me, provides for me, turns my darkness into light, is the Freedom Giver, has a way prepared for me, has promised to heal my marriage, fills me with his Spirit and changes me to be more like him; that I can write in a way that will bring God glory; that the neighbourhood of my church and my city can be healed; that Jesus is the Water that quenches my thirst; that he is the source of reconciliation and restoration; that I can be a light to the world and salt on the earth; that I can have joy and gladness in all circumstances and that Jesus died to give me life.

Perseverance. It is worthwhile to persevere in the midst of my discouragement, hopelessness and despair, through all the feelings that tell me not to bother and that nothing matters because hope will come through perseverance. Think of the widow who hounded (persevered with) the unjust judge! He eventually granted what she wanted just to get her off his back!

Command: "Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love."

Promise: "For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:5-8 NIV

Faith +

Goodness +

Knowledge +

Self-control +

Perseverance +

Godliness +

Brotherly Kindness +

Love =

= Being effective and productive in my knowledge of Jesus.

= good (spiritual) vision

= remembering I have been cleansed from my past sins

= ability to not fall

= a rich welcome into Jesus’ eternal kingdom

I'm thinking that perhaps if I remember these truths, if I soak myself in them, I will begin to disbelieve the lies. I'm going to attach them to my wall, make them into a bookmark I'll keep handy and read them often. "Falling apart" or having a meltdown is a kind of suffering--it's a miserable place to be--but if I persevere in truths instead of buying into lies, perhaps the hope that seems so distant at those times will become more real.

God, please help me to persevere in the midst of the lies of hopelessness, despair and discouragement and hold onto the truths you have given: perseverance will, in the end, produce hope--a hope that does not disappoint. Help me to persevere in self-control so I can be more godly, see truths more clearly and keep from falling.

The following are the verses that talk about persevering and the links will enable you to check out the context of each one if you wish to study further.

Lu 8:15 - Show Context But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. Ro 5:3 - Show Context Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; Ro 5:4 - Show Context perseverance, character; and character, hope. 1Co 13:7 - Show Context It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 2Co 12:12 - Show Context The things that mark an apostle--signs, wonders and miracles--were done among you with great perseverance. 2Th 1:4 - Show Context Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. 2Th 3:5 - Show Context May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance. 1Ti 4:16 - Show Context Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. Heb 10:36 - Show Context You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. Heb 11:27 - Show Context By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. Heb 12:1 - Show Context Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Jas 1:3 - Show Context because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Jas 1:4 - Show Context Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Jas 1:12 - Show Context Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. Jas 5:11 - Show Context As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 2Pe 1:6 - Show Context and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and toperseverance, godliness; Re 2:2 - Show Context I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. Re 2:3 - Show Context You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Re 2:19 - Show Context I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.

New International Version