Nehemiah Type 1Prayer

Using the words of a great systems analyst, this prayer is excellent when a group or task force must make a presentation to a decision-making body.  Several examples illustrate appropriate scenarios for this prayer:

–          Companies regularly apply for grants which are judged by a group of “readers.”  The readers  evaluate the components of each application and apply points based on a pre-set algorithm. 

–          A church task prepares a document that is to be submitted to the denomination for approval.

–          Groups often go before the city Planning Commission to ask for a zoning variance.

In each case, the long prayer in Nehemiah 1.5-11 boils down to the key request at the end:

                “Please grant me (us) favor in the sight of this man (the readers, the denomination, the planning                 commission)”

This is a very specialized prayer, but it is surprising how often it is useful. When the occasion arises have each person concentrate on a different aspect of “favor” – blessing on the evaluators, opening their eyes to your cause, making a good presentation worthy of favor.

See the upcoming post on 10/21/13 for an expansion on this prayer.

Good Works

Last Friday’s post contained a gospel message from Titus 3.3-7. Right after those verses (see Titus 3.8-11), Paul presents a short list of appropriate actions for those who have believed.

The actions include

–          Trust the gospel message

–          Insist on understanding the gospel

–          Avoid foolish discussions about:

  • o   Controversies
  • o   Genealogies
  • o   Dissensions
  • o   Quarrels about the law

–          Warn and then avoid a person who stirs up division

It is interesting that, as an echo of Titus 3.5 – he saved us, not because of works done by us – verse 8 has believing in God coming before devotion to good works.

Cool Number Dates – 10/6/13 – 10/12/13

Even worse than only one cool date each week in September is this first week in October – NONE!

We will take the opportunity to further explain when Half-BacK Days will end this century. 

Back on 8/25 we discovered that each month has its own curtain call.  For January, 1/31/16 and for February, 2/28/15.

The several formulae being used:

                d = 2y – m   OR   d + m= 2y (see 6/23/13)

There are limits on year, month, and day values:

                0 <= y <= 99  (only 100 years in a century!)

                1 <= m <= 12  (only 12 months in a year!)

                And day limits vary by month

                1 <= d <= 28 or 29 for February

                1 <= d <=30 for April, June, September, and November

                1 <= d <= 31 for January, March, May, July, August, October, and December

 To solve, pick a month and the appropriate day limit.

For March, d = 2y – m <= 31

                Or  2y – 3 <= 31

                Or  2y  <= 34

                Or y <= 17…  3/31/17  up 28 and back 14!

 March:                 3/31/17

April:                     4/30/17

May:                      5/31/18

June:                     6/30/18

July:                       7/31/19

August:                  8/30/19

September:          9/29/19

October:              10/30/20

November:         11/29/20

December:         12/30/21

So we can bid adieu to halfback days at the end of 2021!

Science Test Answers

This is a list of comments from test papers, essays, etc., submitted to science and health teachers by elementary, junior high, high school, and college students. It is truly astonishing what weird science our young scholars can create under the pressures of time and grades. The spellings are the original ones.

1. H2O is hot water, and CO2 is cold water.

2. To collect fumes of sulphur, hold a deacon over a flame in a test tube.

3. When you smell an oderless gas, it is probably carbon monoxide.

4. Water is composed of two gins, Oxygin and Hydrogin. Oxygin is pure gin. Hydrogin is water and gin.

5. A super saturated solution is one that holds more than it can hold.

6. Liter: A nest of young puppies.

 

Titus Good News

Paul writes instructive words to us all in the letter to his disciple Titus.  There is a quick, clear summary of the gospel in chapter 3, verses 3-7:

“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.  But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

The verses say we are all sinners, lost and foolish – see the list of ways we moved away from God.

Jesus Christ is our savior – he did it all himself on the cross; there is nothing that we did or can do to merit such favor.  Even though we deserve punishment for our sins, those sins are washed away in Jesus’ merciful and gracious act of redemption. 

The Holy Spirit continues our regeneration and renewal – we continue to be sanctified.  And God is not skimpy; the Holy Spirit is poured out on us richly.

The hope that we have for eternal life is as children of our loving Father.  It is hard for our sinful minds to fathom, but the best part of heaven will be the presence of our Holy God.  This is good news, indeed.

See next Monday’s post for additional expected positive outcomes.

 

Promises Kept

The covenant promises that God made to his people in Deuteronomy 28 – blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience – are answered repeatedly in 2 Chronicles 11-12.  The outcomes usually seem to take a while, but in this passage events unfold quickly.

After King Solomon, the kingdom was split in two.  Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, reigns in Judah.  In verses 13-17 of chapter 11, he is aided (seemingly without his planning or knowing) by immigrants from the Northern kingdom: Levites and “those who had set their heart to seek the LORD God of Israel.”  The result of this influx of God-followers is that the kingdom of Judah is strengthened, Rehoboam is secure, and “they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.”  Blessing Number 1 follows obedience.

Unfortunately, “when the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.”  Two years later, the Egyptian king Shishak came with a great army and plundered all Judah, including Jerusalem.  The prophet Shemaiah relayed the angry message of God:  “You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak .” Curse Number 1 follows abandonment.

At the words of the prophet, King Rehoboam and the princes of Israel humbled themselves and proclaimed, “The LORD is righteous.”  God was pleased with the turning back, and prevented annihilation.  “So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned.”  Blessing Number 2 follows  humbled hearts.

Do Your Best

An old man lived alone in Minnesota. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned his predicament.

Dear Son, I am feeling pretty bad, because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my potato garden this year. I hate to miss doing the garden, because your mother always loved planting time. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me, if you weren’t in prison. Love, Dad

Shortly, the old man received this telegram, “For HEAVEN’S SAKE, Dad, don’t dig up the garden! That’s where I buried the GUNS!”

At 4 the next morning, a dozen FBI agents and local police officers showed up and dug up the entire garden without finding any guns. Confused, the old man wrote another note to his son telling him what happened, and asking him what to do next.

His son’s reply was, “Go ahead and plant your potatoes, Dad. It’s the best I could do for you at this time.”

Gospel High Priest

The book of Hebrews is all about showing how and why Jesus is better – better than angels, the temple, Moses, and Aaron’s line of priests.  Chapter 7, Verse 26 says why Jesus the High Priest is worthy:

–          Holy

–          Innocent

–          Unstained

–          Separated from sinners

–          Exalted above the heavens

The rest of the chapter goes on to make that point that because Jesus offered himself once for all on the cross, he has no need to offer daily sacrifices, neither for himself nor for the people as commanded in Leviticus 7. 

Angels in St Louis

My niece Christine was married this past weekend, and our family drove down for the event.  When the little yellow light went on in the Honda Pilot warning us that our gas level was low, Linnea reminded me of two related incidents where angels showed up several years ago.

We drove our GMC full-sized van to St Louis after a volleyball tournament in Grand Rapids to attend the party for my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary.  This was back in the day when you could fold the back seat into a small bed and sleep while travelling; none of the Click It or Ticket stuff was in play. 

After spending the night somewhere in central Illinois and having a lovely breakfast, we headed to the big city well fed and well rested. The weather was great; the traffic was light; the only thing missing was enough gas to get us to Webster Groves.  Fortunately a highway exit appeared just as the van started coughing.  We cruised down the ramp, around the corner, and into a St Louis city neighborhood, where we stopped in front of a block of brownstones.  Cell  phones and GPS did not exist, and  the TripTik was no help in finding a gas station, but when we got out of the car, a friendly African American woman and gentleman greeted us.  It turns out the gentleman was a Deacon (or his name was Deacon, I am not sure which) and had been visiting the woman at her home.  We had a pleasant conversation about running out of gas, 50th wedding anniversary, heading to Webster Groves, and the church we go to – this was probably more than they wanted to hear. 

In a conversation between these two patient angels, the kindly woman says to her friend, “Deacon, why don’t you drive these nice folks around the corner to the gas station?  I would take them but I got that club on my steering wheel so my son won’t drive it.”  It is amazing the quotes you remember in times of duress.  Deacon took Jesse and me to the gas station; we purchased a container and gas; Deacon drove us back; we poured the gas in, started the van, and were on our way.

Later that same trip we went to an afternoon St Louis Cardinals baseball game.  My sister Cindy and her husband Mark are huge Cardinals fans.  (I was quite conflicted when the Tigers played the Cardinals in the 2006 World Series.)  We parked the van in a lot near the stadium, walked over and enjoyed a Cardinal victory.  I was a worried on the walk back to the parking lot because I could not find the van keys.  Hoping they were in the van, I hurried ahead and found the van engine was still running!  The doors were all locked and the attendant had tried to turn the thing off, but it just sat there for three hours while we watched baseball!  At least this time we did not run out of gas. 

The angel this time was the same just-married niece, Christine, who was six years old at the time.  The custom van windows on the side behind the driver had a small section at the bottom that could be opened for ventilation.  The latches on those window and screen parts did not quite latch, so a little bit of pushing and sliding allowed us to open up a small hole into the vehicle.  Christine was just able to squeeze through the window and open the locks on the doors.  We tried to recreate the event a couple of years later and Christine was too big!  It just lets you now that angels come in all sizes and are the right size at the right time.