Laying Down Pride, Holding a Hearing Ear

"'For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the house of Judah to cling to ME,'" says the LORD, 'that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear'" (Jeremiah 13:11).

My tired hands are throbbing, shooting countless feelings through the nerve endings to my brain; I'm happy to feel this way, and when I am completely worn down, usually, I am suseptable to rest--sleep. The same goes for my pride. When it is proven wrong circumstance after circumstance, usually, I will lay away my reluctance, my haughty or fearful attitude and be swept away by the brilliance of God's perfect wisdom.

He whispers loudly. Boldly He shows me His ways. As it happens to be during the work day, I am usually backed up with at least forty tires hanging on the line, in need of repair. And I tend to stress about them and the million others awaiting my attention. A week goes by, points out a co-worker, and you finally get to that one, or that one which must be rushed back to customer today. Rush is not my man Friday I will tell you that. Fast, unless it has two all beef paddies and loads of cheese and onions and pickles and a side of fries, is not my cup of tea. O LORD, I think aloud, muffled under the clamor and the rushing cyclone of the production plant, GIVE ME SPEED!

Patience was on the agenda before those 1,000,040 tires came along--then my prayer turned to Grand Turismo, Tour de Speedy Gonzales, tire repair. Patience is a lesson, not a "gimme" I have learned. And what correlation will this have to the verse I quoted above? I'm not sure; I'm tired. Pride, however, ruins us. We get to the point where we demand something from God, and when we finally realize how pathetic we have become when we lash out against Him for not giving to us the request we want, we (usually) understand that we weren't clinging to His will. We, in our stupified pride, have answered the door which temptation was knocking on a moment before, trampled with delightful lies which tickle our ears with "sweet nothings" until we, if only for a few moments, believe that we actually need this thing or that thing. Cling to the Rock.

"Hear and give ear; do not be proud, for the LORD has spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God before HE causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it dense darkness. But if you will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD's flock has been taken captive" (Jeremiah 13:15-17).

Standing Fast

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5: 1 NKJV).

It's been two months since I started a new line of work--tire retreading. I repair tires, fixing the slashes and holes and tears and blisters and gouges and mumps and bumps and lumps. You understand the concept, I think. It's reapair work. And I am glad to say that I have attained one level of certification recently; this lets me go on to attain a higher certification, namely, the technician's certification. I am set to leave for Iowa in December (5-9) of this year. Much prayer is needed regarding this trip, one that ought to present the Lord first and foremost, and one which will propell me onto to praise Him once again for His care and direction in my life.

I've been aware of how weak I am, spiritually inhibited still by the flesh and it's conquests of the heart. Prayer must not cease, my precious readers. Lord, grant that I may not give into the flesh and it's faulty nature. For your many other children of light, my Savior, provide the evidence of the Spirit's strength in their mind and fuel them onward.

"...For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10).

Some Scripture Currently Being Studied

Here are a few passages I am in or currently going back to in these days. The Lord is showing more and more of His Word when I commit my heart to learning. At times I am not apt to listen; it is at such silent times without to the Word when I feel most discouraged.

• Jeremiah 5:26-31
• Romans 8
• 1 & 2 Corinthians
• 2 Timothy
• 1 John
• James
• Hebrews

The passage in Jeremiah is very provoking to me, as the words give a similar feeling between the Isaelites and the Christians, the very ones who are in the church but also in the world, saved but growing fat from the filth of the world. The other Bible passages are spurring me on to greater awareness of the strength which was given to me by the Spirit (2 Timothy 1:7). Striving now and then myself, the ideologies of wealth, pleasure, the "I, Me, Mine" concept, some basic tenaments of selfishness are my foes. All Christians are contenders. BUT...

"No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier" (2 Timothy 2: 4).

We don't straddle the fence or fall back into a cove of isolation, but we must now be wearing out the tread on our boots in whimsy. Seek Him first!

O, Christian, Fight!

Again, I muster up the motivation to write. Life abounds with amazment: glory in the stronghold of songs of battle and the awe of God's immortal power. Below is all that I care to say here.

O, Christian, fight!
Fight with Truth,
The sharpest tool!
Fight with Love,
The bravest friend!
O, Christian, fight!

Para Cristo hoy
Y perpetuamente.
Para Ellos gloria
En cielos y tierra.
Critiano, viya con Cristo.

A Prayer for Strength: Words About Work and Living

Buildings tumble, bridges fall. Lord, keep me and my ways in Yours.
Place in my path fruit that produces patience, and patience which builds my faith,
And faith which yields not to man's corruption and guileness.
Father, as this sojourner persists every dawn and dusk,
May he be a soldier, a nightwatchman, readying himself in the Word
In order that he may be steadfast and worthy and unashamed of You.
"Trust in the Lord forever: for in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength,"
Indeed the prophet wrote, and indeed help me to draw courage,
Courage of the Spirit. God be my shield and my sword forever. Amen.

Time for me to saddle up and remember my goal, to run the race, to search out the matters of God, and to exemplify Him. I do not always remember these things and so I suffer amazingly for it; alas, Christ healed me and saved me, and for that I walk in comfort in that knowledge. Summer is close: it's on next month's agenda. I've realized how great of a job God did in creating Woman. This past week I've noticed, I suppose as I have always noticed, this, that they are beautiful creatures, made after man and in the image of God. With that last clause I must strengthen myself in prayer to keep my way pure and see these gals as delticate creations. Delicate, yes, but with a little karate action they can be quite lethal. Ah, so prayer continues!

Work will go on for me here in the Puget Sound, with Milgard, with no summer breaks or recess of the sort which includes dodge ball or monkey bars. At midnight we will actually close down the production lines in light of Memorial Day, and so with ours hats off we will commemorate the holiday by cleaning the factory until 6 AM.

Once I become more settled into my apartment I will take some time to write more often here, and to others by way of snail mail I will hopefully correspond with. I ought to get my coffee made and be on my way a few minutes, so here comes to the end of my entry.

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weigh, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1).

Beginning of The Move: Day 1 

The Bachelor Pad By God's Grace--I dwell in the top storey as the couple below live, well, below. Thank the Lord from whom all blessings flow. Now responsibility and life strides start (or multiply). 

Partial Shot of Living Room: I'm thinking of building a sitcom set, lease the place out without notice by the landlord or the numerous denizens of the Lone Ceder park, and hopefully bag a fortune through some big t.v. network like UPN or PAX. "Yeah, Mrs. Ahtakashowa, those men with the cameras are pest control agent, um, who also are looking for the next American Idol on the job." 

Bedroom--Lots of windows and views of the hills and the old neighbors. Purple-ish carpet, white stucco, and canister ceiling lights make up the niceties for this guy's room (as it also applies to most of the apartment). 

Stovenkitchen: Stove in Kitchen. (English is great!) 

Sorci's/Sumner, WA--Just snapped a photo of this cafe and deli when I came out of the Salvation Army this afternoon in between moving in to my apartment. I may have to try a slice of Italy soon. 

Christmas 2004: Renton, Washington. Pray for these two men, Grandpa Nesper, who is now needing a leg amputation to take away the gangrene that has developed in the recent months, and Grandpa Bowling, whose body is not well and whose mindset needs strengthening and motivation. Both men are diabetics.

Orting--Lively Hour at the Puyallup River. The sun finally broke through this afternoon, and fortunately there was some good lighting (most important element for any occasion or photo) from above. You can see the rocks glisten just a tad. The yellow Scott's Bloom adds some pazazz to the whole bit, I think. Funny, a plant which almost every one in the Pacific Northwest despises the most, next to maybe the Fox Glove or the Dandilion, even has a purpose in God's creation. Amazing! 

Water's Edge. Not a good picture to my taste's opinion, but it adds a je ne sequois to this group of photos nevertheless. (Oh, I always have to insert the only good French expression I know of into any event, conversation, or moment which lends itself to "a special quality".) 

Taking a Break. 

Simple Setting. Watched the river flow. 

ORTING--Old Dirt Road Along the River. I enjoyed this very serene and quiet walk. The cotton leaves of the cottonwood trees were dropping all around abundantly--looked a lot like snow. 

Ah, the stern face side of the law! It never wavers.  

Prayers Answered

God, forgive me for the unbelief that creeped in and creeps in and weaves itself around my faith; You provide, my Lord, You provide abundantly and the best provisions and blessings.

Since the beginning of this year I have carried on the idea that I would find a good job and a place to stay in Western Washington when my stepfather and mother moved to the Okanagan Highlands eastward in a small town where the land is grassy and blue skies seem magnified. They plan to move there with my 11 year-old sister and 3 year-old brother in June. As the general time has grown near, the possibility of finding those two things (a job and apartment or room) has, I will admit, once seemed narrow. Back in March, however, the Lord put the ambition in me to apply around Fife and Tacoma, and that was the plan and that was all this was to it.

God brought along an ad in the Little Nickel classifieds to the attention of my mother last week, and it displayed a relatively inexpensive $475 a month rent which, compared with the spanking steep $580-700 rent prices that other apartment managers set in stone (and do not generally make deals) in the rest of Puyallup and general area close to my work, is ideal. That caught my attention, too. I took a short tour of the place with the manager, and it's nice being on the top story of a two story house. Complete with a kitchen, bath room, living room, and bed room, I've got my first abode. Worked out a deal with the manager concerning the security deposit ($500), so instead of paying it all upfront I am blessed to make installments on it--basically, it allows me not to go broke right from the start of my adventure into bachelorhood. My mom has decided since she has about a dozen of everything, such as kitchen utensils, a few pieces of furniture, towels, Bat-Mobiles (just kidding folks), and other practical things, she is going to give me some good stuff to start me on my single-independant way. With a thumbs up, I say "Thanks, Mom."

I pray that I am not the one to embark on a false start, to be defeated very easily, to faint before the day of adversity, and to succumb to pressure. Lord, I pray, give me this time of newness and enormous responsibility to be the point in time when I will grow "further up and further in" if that is the correct expression; enable me to step farther steps in my service to You, and let me not be troubled in times of trouble. I call to You now, in good times, as this is good to do. For in the future I may experience difficulties that I now could not face, but then I know, under Your arm, in the exposure of reality and the tasks that go with it I will succeed.

Took a drive down to the Puyallup River to take pictures. I got a couple good shots and some video footage while I walked about a mile down the gravel road next to the flowing, clear water. The cottonwoods are full of moisture and color, healthy and beautiful; the Scott's Bloom has progressively grown in a wide range, filling up most meadows with its yellow buds and green stalks. Tiny snakes and lizards slither and crawl in the brush, under the alders down by the river's side. I have been almost tempted to cross a shallow, less hasty part of the stream to the middle sand bar to catch the view and explore there, but I haven't given in to getting wet just yet. I'll think more seriously about that in June, and possibly with other people when the camaraderie makes such an activity more fulfilling and fun. God, please enter some people into my life here, for decent relationships and Your glory's sake through my example of life, I need the accountability and companionship!

Convenient Family Photo In Light of Mother's Day: , this was taken back in Easter. It has a few madres in it so I think it is both 'convenient' and swell.
 

Sister's Unofficial Mother's Day Drawing: I especially like the "lively-looking" dead Clown Fish floating inside the aquatic castle--it adds a nice toach of texture and contrast to the greens and blues in this "surreal" still life. 

Chevy Nova: The Classic Mother's Car. No mother should be without her scarf or Chevy Nova. Took this picture at Main and 3rd Street. 

Rietzug Chair: Designated by no particular or real official as the Mother's Chair, this chair brings be so much glee for some reason. Maybe the glee made me take the picture. 

Meeker Mansion, PUYALLUP, WA: Spent Mother's Day at the Rietzugs' house for fellowship, then the four of us went to Puyallup for lunch. After a very classy meal at the mansion (via Mc Donald's drive-thru), and having interupted a Mother's Day tea party, we thought it was best to split the scene and go somewhere else. Our facial expressions are of the mellow sort, but simply classic. 

Mountain Hwy: Found out that this is a really fantastic place for ice cream. 

Production Lines, Travel Trailers, and Hope

"Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, whe ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment" (Matthew 6:25 KJV)?

Line 1 went down once last night from the torn fiber mats sewn together in a bad way. Difficult night for me as it was the first time I was assigned to manage a line, sewing mats and gluing rovings with such a curious technique of a beginner, that I almost gave up a couple times. Thankfully, I did not give up; I surrendered my anger (again and again) to God. The glue jobs broke and snagged and knotted up several times, prompting me to scurry to all sides of the machine and shelves behind to understand what I had done wrong. The mat change (which is dire because in order to produce a good part an operator needs to take the new, full roll of matting and insert the cut endings to that of the old, spent roll so the part won't have any disruptions) was awkward the first time. I was so eager to change the mat that I unraveled what must have been a couple hundred feet of material, strewn all over the floor, overlapping itself dozens of times, piling up about two feet off the concrete floor, and attracting much attention and funny looks from the other operators. Laughing to myself and cracking jokes with the more experienced coworker on the next line running, I found out two things:

1) Line 1 is the "easiest" line in the ten lines2) The progressively spent roll of mat I had changed had about another hour's worth to go.

As a packer I have become comfortable and at ease with the familiar jobs that go with the title, but as with all things, comfort and ease must be handed up without a fit in order for patience and maturity to grow. The deliverance of comfort raced through my mind a hundred times last night as I was lying on my side trying to untangle knots and snags as the rovings were being pulled through the numerous holes and tubes on up to the vat of mix and cast into the mold. We grow when put to the test.

Had a useful conversation with the operator next to me and the lead operator about apartments and rent, returning to the idea of finding a studio, and also entertaining the idea of renting an RV space. The operator offered a Coleman two-burner propane stove to me as well. I came home this morning and mentioned the talk of RVs and my Mom then told me of a man who is selling a 10' (not big, but to me, big enough) feet long Chinook. After calling him and finding that he would take $600 for it we set up a meeting at 4:00 this afternoon, and after going to the bank to cash basically all of my pay check, and after waking up at 3:30, and after another call we found out that the item for sale is not a trailer but a self-contained camper. My hopes and dreams of living in a trailer were dashed to pieces this afternoon (rest in peace) when I realized, too, and reminded that I have a 4-cylinder 4x4 (not quite powerful enough to haul around a self-contained trailer).

I am hopeful, nevertheless.

IN MEMORY: Wally the Watermelon. 

Flowering Grassy Field--This is a field in the middle of the current urban sprawl taking place around Puyallup, Sumner, Buckely, and other small cities and small towns.  

May 4

Coffee. So wonderful. I think Beethoven said that coffee is sweeter than a thousand kisses. But I ask, "Is it really?" It's pretty dern good, but maybe our German composer embellished the delicious goodness of coffee ... just a tad. Some folks like a lot of sugar in their coffee, and some like a lot of milk or in this whole diet-crazed culture this obese country is going through "Fat Free and Organic" moo juice is what some healthniks prefer in their lattes. Me, I just now settled down in this chair with a cup of black Yuban which has been sitting in the pot since early this morning. It fermented quite nicely.

Had some fellowship and Bible study time with the Stills and Ben from Albania (I don't know his last name) last evening. Finished the Book of Job then, and came to the conclusion that even the righteous man can neither save himself by his own hand nor can he have too much faith, for even Job said, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee" (43:5 KJV).

Released more ailments before the Lord, worry and doubt being two elements; I've got to pursue Him while abiding in Him, always in Him. Worry is quite the treacherous member of this earth. With it one may invest in many contingency plans which aren't worth the time or efforts that burden the body and soul with in such blasphemy as the shaking fist at God through doubt. Doubting Castle in Bunyan's allegory, Pilgrim's Progress, was a dungeon, guarded by a beast of a giant, something which no doubt grew into what it was before it was slain by the sword. I've long since been released from this world's toil and mazes, fortune hunts and quests for success, for my Father presented me with treasures and success which await in heaven. And I suppose from there there will be many things to do for eternity. I know it'll be much more than singing and playing harps as this dreary world imagines it could be.

I soon must pack my things into boxes for the move I will make soon, and although I do not have apartment or room to rent yet I know if it is God's will for me to have a place here in the Puget Sound to work and thrive then I will find it or I will be found by it. I have friends who are experiencing this "splenderific" time of discovery and growth; from boyhood to manhood or girlhood to womanhood, some are going. And I pray for them.

Afterthoughts: Feliz Cinco de Mayo a los Mexicanos.

Perko's Cafe, MODESTO--Bible study with Grandpa Dennis and other men back in the winter. I enjoyed the early morning drive to the cafe, where the 5:30 opening yielded a hot cup of coffee and ice water and some breakfast in the Word. Good stuff. 

We Say, How Long?

"For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" (Romans 14:10).

The prophet Habakkuk opens this book with these words, "O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear?" He ranted the rant of one who sees trouble, plundering and violence were before him; he could not understand why the Righteous Judge would allow such things to happen in the creation which He called good. All this translates so well with what is on the minds of many today. Why and how long? Last night while on the last break at work, I spoke with a Hispanic coworker, born and raised in Yakima, Washington. He gave me some Spanish tips and talked of Mexicans and Central Americans who cross the border into the U.S. seeking higher wages in the orchards and fields. There is a resentment, my coworker says, from some of the people south of the border toward the laws and the people here. An American may vacation in Mexico and could be beat up for being white, all because of some seething reaction to past injustice from some white fellow towards a Mexican.

On deportation he said, "A Mexican could be deported from the U.S. all because of a traffic ticket...Say a cop pulls the guy over, asks for his license, and when the guy doesn't understand English and isn't a citizen, the cop will get the INS. The man has a wife and two kids living here while he is sent back 1,000 miles away. It's not right." And I could just hear such words forming in my coworker's mind: How long?

I learned a lot sitting with that man outside of the factory, in the cool early morning air, eventually giving my comments, and thinking of what to say to him; the words of Jesus to his disciples on what to do in such circumstances when they were handed up to the officials was, "Whatever is given to you to say at that time, speak that." So I spoke. Those glorious words, that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow...and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Philippians 2:10-11) came to mind, so I said them. "All these leaders, immigrants, citizens, congressmen, Federales, everyone will have to do those things sooner or later," said I as we walked back into the factory. "But it's better to do it now on earth than at Judgment Day for the first time."

My coworker listened with interest and when I spoke, though he still had the smattering of that resentment he spoke of when he told me that he has been told by white men that they are more superior to him because of their white skin. I just said, "That's not what God says."

"Behold the proud," says the Lord in Habakkuk 2:4, "his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith."

Got A Hankering for the Word

I spoke with a chap, a student and mutual friend in the faith at Cornerstone Bible Institute (let's conceal his name to protect the innocent and call him "Pepe del Taco" because Spanish is the perfect language in which to conceal a person's identity), who is a buddy of my pal "Bud Stephens" (protecting the innocent again, but in English). "Pepe" inspired me to look back into the Old Testement for prophecy fulfilled, and suggesting Zechariah 10-12 as a place to read. One thing lead to another, and soon I was skimming to the Gospel of John, then to Isaiah. Always have I been uplifted in this book; in the midst of judgment, there is grace and mercy; sacrifice and the spilling, of the Holy Spirit upon the believers was prophesied in chapter 44:3 ("I will pour My Spirit on your descendants..." God says, and continues, "One will say, 'I am the Lord's'" it says in verse 5).

Another passage of the Redeemer coming, in Isaiah, reads:

"And now the LORD says, who formed Me from the womb to be His servant, to bring back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him (for Hi shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD,And My God shall be My strength),Indeed He says,'It is too small a thing that You should be My ServantTo raise up the tribes of Jacob,And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth'" (Isaiah 49:5-6).

I pray for more thirsting for the Word, as Christ has quenched my eternal thirst, the well of doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteous living, as Paul said, is fit for the man of God to be made complete, "thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16). If anyone reads this, I ask for your prayer in regard to my devotion to the Word and in reading and studying that which is of Him--the Bible.

MODESTO, CA--Sun down outiside town. Another Modesto shot shows that I am in a nostalgic mood at the present moment. This was taken at my Grandparents' place last December.  

MODESTO, CA--Outside of the city limits, my brother Jason (whose portrait has graced this site more than once) had snapped this shot around Easter. Very nostlagic. I'd like to walk a few miles down some dirt road, among the almond trees or in a field such as this.  

1 John 5:14-15

Such a night it was last night for prayer. Much prayer to God in thankfulness and petitioning came to a head once I stopped to read in the Journals of Jim Elliot, the book of the Christian missionary to the Quicha and Auca Indians in Ecuador in the 1950s who was killed by an Auca spear along with two other Christian men on a sand bar in Auca territory. The book, edited by his widow (now writer and speaker) Elisabeth Elliot, is a timeless classic of encouragement; each time I sit to read in it I find some learning from the man's mind as he had been compelled to log his discoveries and insights in the Word and in life with the Word.

Before going to sleep at 2 AM, I had that night been feeling discontent with my search for an apartment or room to rent here in the Puget Sound, tossing aside the renter's guidebook and praying to God for His provision. It will come. I finished praying and read this:

"Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything
according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we
ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him" (1 John 5:14-15).

Not much to say after that, except that I will rest easy in faith, in patience for the Lord. Inside I keep thinking, "Remember Isaiah 30:18!" I do remember it.

Tonight, and in a moment I'll leave, there's ongoing work to do at Milgard in almost my second month with the company. I will be taking the opporator's exam and interview sometime this week it is likely, since I had informed my supervisor I am interested in the position.

Good night.

1 John 1:5-10

Had some fellowship with a handful of Christians at the Rietzugs' house this morning and early afternoon, looking into the book of 1 John. Five verses below on fellowship with the LORD, which need no commentary from me, are particularly helpful to my mind this evening.

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us (1 John 1:5-10).

OK. I will explain why they are helpful to me. Verse 6, reminding the man of God that double-speak tarnishes the truth and is not true to the fellowship with God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And as with true fellowship, true love, true salvation, the testing of spirits, identifiying the way of deceptive living is a recurring theme throughout the the epistle. This identifies deception: "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen (4:20)?" Shall a man not overcome the world when he has become a Christian, child of God?

Paul challanged the Colossians all who have know Christ the Savior to "put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth" (Col. 3:8) as we have left our positions as "sons of disobedience" (those who still must worry of the wrath of God which is to come) and have stepped into eternity at the very instant when we first believed. In this reminder I know that I must carry out love, fighting the good fight of faith with a pure mind (for it is the mind that is the battleground of a man's soul), submitting myself to the Lord, and exemplifying Christ to my nonbelieving brothers and sisters in each meeting which come. I challange all Christians who might have chanced to read this to do the very same thing.

Trumpet Call to His Elect

This man is weak, flesh and bones,
Carries weights and depends on light.
But with grace abounding, love unabashing,
God's trumpet sounding, angels heard.
The Elect come running, rising, returning;
The deadness left to barren pastures,
And joy fills the rising air like lilacs in a storm.
The miller left his grinding.
The worker finished his task.
The soldier was relieved.

Holy hands, with no wrath nor doubting,
Kept by the shepherd's staff,
Were troubled not in the least.
Woes of famines, blasts of death,
Shouts of battle songs arose
In the north, in the south, west and east.
Man the weak, the lesser of the sword,
Gave his word to seek his wrangling peace.
No success, evil breeded, conquests of lust
And malice scorched the earth to its roots.

Then came a brief excursion into peace,
As the world rested on a hill in the eye,
In the throat of the fire, of the flame in the wind
Of a tornado's lie, all in the Beast's belly.
No true rest could this be.
The kings derobed.
Robbed of glory.
In bed with fear as the seals are broken.

Caves and mountains may hide the bewildered,
As the melting comfort runs into floods
And washes them away into the deafening
Trumpet plagues in the shadow of the angelic host.
Refuge on the Rock, refuge in El Shadadi,
Within the warm embrace of the Son of God,
Showers some souls with life as many others die.
The Beast adjusts his tie, with ironed shirt,
With mighty sword, with cuff links sparkling,
And challenges the Sovreign God.
Battles are fought.
Wakes of heartbreak come with
Blood up to the horse's bridle.

The world crying, God enacted
All the troubles for the darkened earth,
For the judgement of sin to be without sun
Or any substance, presense, or reminder of life
While the purchased, blood cleansed holy hearts
Were scooped up and collected into His favor.
This man was weak, flesh and bones,
That was all (nothing more) but made new.

Lilacs in Bloom: I took this in our garden this morning at about 6:30. I enjoy the mountains and the trees and the sky in the backdrop; God's creaion, like Him, is absolutely unique (for there is no other god and no creation of man that may compare).