As you travel this earth, honor your parents so that . . .

Ephesians 6

 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— ³ “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

So that it may go well with you:  your "honoring" or "not honoring" can physically affect you .

God's design is that you ENJOY long life.

This commandment is pervasive – and whether our parents have been good or bad, they have a fundamental affect on issues in life.

In the Book,  Bold love, by Dan Allender, a certain young man wanted to be a lawyer – he wanted to fight against all pretenders and fakes.  He wanted to drive out all pompous and hateful individuals because, sadly, his father was like that.  

He wanted his father to pay.  But He couldn’t even say one disagreeable thing to his father.  He was too afraid of him.  In trying to get back at his father he himself became a cruel man, seeking retribution at the sacrifice of making other cruel individuals pay.

·         He could make other cruel men pay – but became cruel himself.            God has a better route for us to travel.  As we live our life, He asks us to consider deeply and truthfully WHAT OUR PARENTS are really like.  This is called "honor" - in the original language, Hebrew, the word means to "have weight" or examine the weight.  Right, wrong, hurtful, or helpful - weigh out and search out what your parents were to you.  Respect them but ALSO tell the truth about them.               God bless you as you tell yourself the truth about your parents; go on a treasure hunt for the good and don't ignore the hurt or abuse or neglect that may have also been there.

Genesis 2 - Men and Women

Genesis two shows a glimpse of God creating man and woman with great care.  For those of you who have (or haven't) noticed, He created men different from women and women different from men.

Genesis 2

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

. . . . Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23 The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
    for she was taken out of man.”

24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

I get the privilege of working with couples at our church and in the neighborhood.  Last night we had a "year in review" for newly married couples and here is one clip on men and women that is absolutely hilarious and insightful:

My wife and I just rolled in laughter while watching this - partly because it is sooooo true.

ENJOY!

Travel the Globe; Prayer and Psalm 139

Psalm 139 has a great prayer thought for travellers:

You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

God is everywhere I go - anywhere.  Our family headed to China for one year of teaching and study - God was there with us.  We were anxious about the trip with (at the time) three young children but God was there with us every step of the way.

My wife and I were in Taiwan, and Belize and the Philippines and everywhere we have traveled we could either be cognizant of His presence or we could forget about it.

I'm reading through the book, The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg.  Its about being the person that God specifically designed you to be.  Anyway, there is a quote from a book concerning prayer and God's presence everywhere:  "Anytime I sin, I must remove any thought of the presence of god from my conscious awareness.  Then when I pray, I have to put Him back in my mind's focus.  the goal of prayer is not toe get good at praying, as many people think.  The goal of prayer is not to try to set new records for how much time we spend praying.  The goal of prayer is to live all of my life and speak all of my words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God (italics not mine)."

Prayer gets to be more real when we realize the Psalm 139 truth that God is always around even if we have traveled great distances from home or even if our mind has strayed great thoughts away from "home" - from Him.  Jesus is always with the "real me."

Lord Jesus, test my thoughts and let me see that any anxious thought, any temptation thought, any angry twist someone's nose thought does not surprise you because you are always there with me.  Let me know that I can be honest with you no matter where I am in my journey of faith.  Amen, Sweet Jesus!

Be safe, People of God.

Al

Where did Job Live?

Job 1. the Land of Uz

Job chapter one opens up with this man, Job, living in the land of Uz.  Uz sounds like something out of a Dr. Suess book.  It's a real place but where is it?  Some say it is just east of the Jordan River - I have my doubts about that!  But there is another theory that relates more closely to the Genesis table of nations in Genesis 10.

Genesis 10 reveals the list of patriarchs from which came the nations of the world.  Some of these nations may still contain remnants of the original name (patriarch's names often attached themselves to clans, then tribes, and even nations).  "Mizraim" is one of those names that you can still see today.  Genesis 10:6 lists Mizraim as a grandson of Noah.  " The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan."  Mizraim has its modern day connection to Egypt - "Mizr."  Look up Egypt on Wikipedia and you get Mizr (Arabic: مصر‎ Miṣr).

What about the land of Uz?  If you direct a look to the area of the world with all the "Stan" countries, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkemenistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, you might pick up that the last one mentioned has "Uz" hanging on to the front end.  Is it possible that this guy, "Uz" mentioned in Genesis 10 (The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether. . . ) became the leader of a clan, then the clan became a tribe, then the nation?  It's worth some consideration.