Battles

  A Name Isaiah 49:16 See, I have written your name on my hand. Jerusalem, I always think about your walls. In Luke chapter eight there are two stories told that captivate me. The stories are told also in Matthew but we get more information from Luke. One of the things that I find interesting is that in both books these two stories are intertwined. First we have the story of the leader of the synagogue. Here we find a man whose daughter is dying and his only hope is Jesus. The problems this man has is that he has been informed to have nothing to do with Jesus if he wants to keep his position as leader of the synagogue. So now he has to choose his dying daughter or his job and of course he chooses his daughter. While this is going on another person, who is in the middle of a calamity seeks Jesus. This woman does not even feel worthy to speak to Jesus but she believes that if she can just touch Jesus’ coat she will find the healing she cannot find anyplace else. When I com...

 Hope Isaiah 49:9 You will tell the prisoners, ‘Come out of your prison.’  You will tell those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’  The people will eat beside the roads, and they will find food even on bare hills.                          Someone once told me a truth that is very inconvenient but has proven to be true over and over.  I was reminded of this truth just recently and it has been on my mind ever since then.  The truth that I learned was that if something starts to leak it will never get better and almost always it will get worse over time.  That truth has helped me but it also has made my life harder.  In the years after I learned that truth I have had to deal with leaky faucets, washing machine pumps and broken pipes.  As much as I did not want to face the truth about those things I still dealt with them because I knew what was true and I knew what had to be done if I wa...

 

 

  Glory Isaiah 49:3 He told me, “Israel, you are my servant. I will show my glory through you.”   I have to confess to a choice I made a few years ago. Let me set this up by saying that I have seven grandchildren and I love them all in away that I cannot rightly express because that love is beyond words. There is a joy that is found in grandchildren that is a wonder and a delight. My problem was I was never able to hold one of my grandchildren the day they were born. Some times it was days but often it was weeks or months before I got to hold those cherished lives and that bugged me to no end. No one was at fault for these delays but things happen like being on the other side of the world or a child having to spend time in the NICU. With my last grandchild I was determined that not only was I going to hold that child but I would be the first one to hold that child other then their mother and father. On the day my last grandchild was born my wife was babysitting the o...