2125AFC061821 – A Novel Graphic
Read it online here, please. And please, when you visit there, use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often.
Job 38:8-11 – 8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?— 9 when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, 11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?”
2 Corinthians 5:14 – 14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.
Mark 4:36-39 – 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and Peace to each of you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Today I’m going way out on a limb and I’m going to help you see what I mean instead of read what I mean.
Mark 4:36-39 – 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.
They “took him … just as he was.” How do we take Jesus? Where do we carry him? Would Jesus be able to rest in the turbulence of our lives? Are we not sure of the answer? Then we can rest assured that he will take us as we are. (↔ Music Link) And what about the guys in the other boats. Can you imagine what they thought when the storm suddenly stopped?
Job 38:8-11 – 8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?— 9 when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, 11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?”
If you know how bad a basilisk is, you know that what’s devouring our world, our Peace, and our Sanity is far worse than any legendary creature in mythology. It is the real, living, voracious Power of Evil – coming upon us like a tsunami and carrying away much that is precious while leaving behind much that is heaps of wreck and ruin – material, physical, and spiritual devastation. But we have a God who can control the sea, the weather, the things that go bump in the night, and HE has given us HIS deliverance from whatever the Foe stirs up.
2 Corinthians 5:14 – 14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.
How we gonna get there if we don’t go and leave? I know, you know, we know “No matter how you struggle and strive / You’ll never get out of the world alive.” But what does it mean “all have died?” all in Christ have died with him in the baptism of his death on the cross, so all live in him because he died for all. He’s coming back. Could be tomorrow, could be a thousand years from now, but he is coming back. He said it, we believe it, and we’re stickin’ to it.
Revelation 19:11-14 – 11 Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.
The bride and groom in a Jewish wedding were crowned with small diadems or coronets. This Kingly Groom on a white stallion is “crowned with many crowns” (↔ Music Link) for the Bride of Christ, the Church. It will not be a pleasant visit for those who have made of him an enemy, a mockery, or insignificant.
Luke 15:10 – 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
For those who have kept the Law, for those who have loved God above all and Neighbor among all, there is great rejoicing in Heaven. On that Last Day, will there be time for the wicked to say, “What shall I do to be saved?” We are told that on that day, what we have done will judge us, and we may be held wanting (Read the fifth chapter of Daniel, but especially Daniel 5:24-28 – 24 “So from his presence the hand was sent and this writing was inscribed. 25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: mene, mene, tekel, and parsin. 26 This is the interpretation of the matter: mene, God has numbered the days of[a] your kingdom and brought it to an end; 27 tekel, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; 28 peres,[b] your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
That’s no fairytale, and it did come true. It can happen to anyone who rejects God’s gifts, disrespects God’s power, or exploits his children.
Another lesson from my old friend, Abraham. What was his answer when God spoke? “Ready!” always obey immediately. “If you haven’t got time to do it right the first time, when will you have time to do it over?” Now substitute these words for “time”: inclination, will, Love, Faith, and discernment. See what I mean? WE choose God or WE choose N0-God and in NO-God there is NO Good. Better then to pray for wisdom (See Proverbs 9:10 (↔ Click Link)
“Why worry when you can pray?” (↔ Music Link) Many of us prefer to worry. It’s like we don’t want to “bother God” with our trivial pursuits. Well, we’re just not listening, because he already knows everything we do before we do it, so what’s the point of avoiding him? Pray-in-faith-believing is a reeeaaly good strategy. Think about those Disciples in the boat with Jesus. NOW we know that when things get all story in our lives, we just go to Jesus and say H-E-L-L-L-L-P! They hadn’t learned that yet (although the did have plenty of reasons to understand it). They panicked. We do the same thing sometimes. We must remember that this Jesus, ths God the Creator without Whom nothing was made – John 1:1-5 (↔ Click Link).
Look, remember Genesis 1:31 – 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Like we often say, “It’s all good.” If God can create and control the Universe – of which each of us is a miniscule part – then probably he can handle anything stupid we can come up with. Is that too blunt? I have a good deal of expertise in “stu-ped” and there’s nothing better as an antidote than
REPENTANCE. It is always the best way to win in a battle with Satan. Just remember to put on the Full Armor of God (↔ Click Link) and then …
WE have the Gift of Life, and the gift is only useful if we use it for others.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Psalm 116:12-19 (12-14 excerpted) – 12 What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of Salvation and call on the name of the Lord, 14 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.
