Category Archives: Five Minute Friday

I loved the way Kate began her post today. We have several things in common with the exception of time. It is hard to write four decades. Wow.

At twenty I went overseas to serve as a missionary beginning on the island of Guam to the Philippines and then on a tour into China. The year 1980. I too thought I was going to lead the world to Christ but God had so much more planned.

I shared Christ with a young islander, (every which way, time, scriptures, etc) yet, she never prayed to receive Jesus. I made a friend, think of her and off and on still pray for her. I learned humility.

I lived with a family in the Phillippines and shared their everyday life. Boiling water to drink, watching their daughter studying hard to pass an exam to enter sixth grade. If she didn’t pass, her schooling was over. I learned the value of education. I became a teacher.

When asked what I wanted to eat for breakfast, I suggest an egg. I didn’t know how expensive eggs were. Once I knew I ended that. I remember the family meal of rice, one fish, and pea dish which we all shared from a turn-style from the center of the table. I learned the value of family.

So much of what I write today is still tied to that year. I was in training for the battles to come.

I hope I gave half as much as I received. God’s blessing comes in so many different ways that at times we cannot see. My students would ask why so many people come to America, I replied for the water, it is clean, drinkable, and ready to serve.

So is God’s Word, which is clean, drinkable, and served every day in America under the blessing we received.

Certainly not the misinterpretation of a Founding Father’s letter by one man in the sixties that has reek havoc on our nation, just like one man’s decision in the Roe vs. Wae, stating that the Constitution didn’t protect a child in the mother’s womb. Jefferson’s letter assures this pastor and future churches in America that they would not suffer the persecution by the government as they had in Europe and England. Jefferson’s letter implied that our government would always protect churches and religious freedom. Read Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, every one of the Founding Fathers believed

2 Timothy 2:15
King James Version
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Thomas Jefferson's letter was written to a concerned pastor about the overreach of government into the church, not as it has been missed applied. Today the gov't has overreached into the church, our schools, and our daily lives to the point of infringing on our God-given inalienable rights and even trying to shut down churches, charging thousands of dollars a day for staying open. God was not to be removed from our daily lives or our society. 

Mountains of precipitous words echo constant reverberation. Reach into the WORD to find perspicacity (clear insight). Today, politicians and news media constantly reverberate the same talking point, spout opinions as facts, and shut down free speech if it is contrary to their talking points. 

God calls us to know our foundational truths; to think freely is an inalienable right given to us by God, not man. That made this country so different from others in the past and today. 

Side note: Thomas Jefferson didn't believe in tax dollars for education, welfare, money for illegal immigrants (actually, that started with President Carter), planned parenthood, SSI, and more. Those things were the responsibility of the states.) 

We live in a bubble created by all those who have forged this country, and it is disappearing into the chaos as seen in Portal and yesterday into NY, where someone runs up and shoots a mother in the back of her head, totally unaware of the danger. Many people today are unaware of the risk of a socialist regime and the loss of freedom they now enjoy because of our right to protect ourselves. Sorry, this was long; just a heartfelt concern. 

I don't know how in the '60s and '70s, people accepted the misapplication of Truth. Ignorance, afraid to speak up, is that true, busy with daily life, etc.; their argument stood so long that the fight to challenge it seemed insurmountable. But I think it was good people not paying attention and evil people pushing an agenda that started over a hundred years ago. I know I'm guilty of not paying attention. Good people have sounded out from the patriot act to the crazy bureaucrats controlling your actions. Study to show thyself approved. I have so much to learn. 

JOB 17:8 “Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.”

Job is sad that he, a godly person, must suffer such pain and insults, but his sufferings make him more determined to do right and oppose wrong.

Act 2:16-18 “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”

Why bring these two seemingly unrelated verses together? Job did suffer the loss of his wealth, family, and health. His friends came to offer comfort but only accused him of sin in his life. His friends personally attacked him. We look to the church for guidance yet, are condemned by our peers, not given the whole truth.
“Romans 13:12-14 The night is almost finished. The day is almost here. So we should stop doing whatever belongs to darkness. We should prepare ourselves to fight evil with the weapons that belong to the light. We should live right by not participating in wild parties or getting drunk, doped up, etc. We should not be involved in sexual sin or any kind of immoral behavior. We should not be malicious gossip on social media. We are to speak the Truth by calling evil, evil. “

God spoke to Job directly and brought a clear understanding of His love for Job and through it a deeper understanding of Himself. How would you like to have had this conversation?

Astonied is to be filled with consternation or dismay. When people’s hearts are stirred, God will pour out His Spirit. We will not be lost, nor will our hearts remain heavy at the evilness around us. God will pour out His spirit upon the stirred souls of the righteous, and God will give you discernment through His Word to recognize the counterfeiter.

God will speak to us as He did Job by pouring out His Spirit. …on your sons and daughters, (they) will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy (the Truth).

I’m smart, you’re dumb; I’m big, you’re little; I’m right, you’re wrong, and there’s nothing you can do about it. (Movie/ Matilda)

⁷ So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. John 8:7King James Version

I think of how we Christians lord church doctrine over other churches, non-Christians, etc., yet think my sin is not as bad as theirs. WOW! Certain sins may excommunicate you from the church, while every sin not washed by the blood of Jesus keeps you out of heaven. Sometimes our point of view needs adjusting.

How dangerous is your perspective?

Yet, from a Jewish perspective, if a Pharisee had cast the first stone, he would be guilty of claiming equality with God, the very reason Jesus hung on the cross. The Pharisees saw themselves better than others, their sin less dirty, but Jesus changed their perspective upward. I sometimes get locked into a western view of the bible, which is dangerous. I heard a pastor say once, how can a bridesmaid, the Jewish Nation, be the bride of Christ, the church. Matthew 24 is written to the Jewish nation, not the bride of Christ. It is about the second coming, not the rapture. I would like to add here of how many times I thought if the church is the bride, how is it that I’m the bridesmaid? Or where did Enoch go? Why are all of David’s failures told?

God’s Word has so many layers that I’m learning to adjust my point of view upward. God’s Word rings true for every believer to meet them where they are in the Christian walk. God reveals Himself in His Word. It is up to me to seek, and know Him.

I’m so thankful that God is patiently kind.

life’s brief moments
full of 
    beauty 
         and
           splendor- 
                 r
            a
               i  
         n
                   i
            n
                 g  
pink    
        p
          e
           t
             a
              l   
                s . . .
  we mourn.

In memory of 
Robb Elementary school, 
Uvalde, Texas
our tears 
of sadness flow
our hearts hurt 
for the families, friends, 
and the community.


I pray that seeds of bitterness
not take root.
I pray for sweet memories to heal a broken heart,
as God mends the weeping soul.
I pray that people not use
this tragedy to promote a political agenda.

How can kindness be interject to rip through the meanness of one's heart? Did he not hear one word of kindness or see a kind act? How can pure selfishness overwhelm the mind to cloud out reason and justice to move one so far from humanity?

Is the media, music, and video games so vapid? Where does one find value or worth in this world?
I know Jesus is that answer but did he ever hear the truth?

These students celebrated a new beginning as they received awards for the last days in one grade and advancing to the next. Their flower was shaken (taken) from them. Healing a broken heart takes time. I pray for God's hedge of protection around each family as they try to grasp what has happened. I pray for good men and women to take a stand and be the bulwark God designed them to be. We need men to be the leaders in their families and women to support and respect their leadership. Long before God established the church, he created the family. The family is the basic unit of our society. I pray we heal our families. I pray for families to return to the church for moral guidance. I pray for families to be rooted in God's truth for the healing of our nation. 

2Chroniciles 7:14 
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.