Tag Archives: bible

Double Birthday, Again!?!?

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Yes! It is my birthday again! Not really but I did celebrate my 50th like I have never done before. Click here to read last week’s post. It will all make more sense.

On Sunday this past weekend, I crossed off a bucket list item. I jumped out of an airplane!

This picture is not me but that is precisely what I did a few days ago!

So…how do I transition to the Day of Atonement after talking about skydiving?

I will just jump right in.

As I stated last week, the second of my birthdays involve the Day of Atonement.

In the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus details the sacrificial system set up for the Israelites.

I will try and summarize this for you.

When God created Adam and Eve, there was a perfect relationship between God and man.

Adam and Eve broke that relationship when they ate the forbidden fruit.

Since that time, yes, all the way up to now, that relationship has not yet been mended.

God desperately wants the relationship to be restored.

He also wants us to desire that perfect relationship as well.

He provided a sacrificial system in the Old Testament that foreshadowed a relationship that has been restored to perfection.

When we get to the New Testament, Jesus was sent to earth as a baby. We could now identify with God.

After Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead, he departed this world and returned to heaven.

The Holy Spirit then replaced Jesus as the presence of God on this earth.

And this is where we find ourselves now.

We are still in a fractured relationship with our God even though He has been attempting to bring us back together. For the last few millennia.

Sin is a separator. It puts space between us and God. All through human history, He keeps trying different ways to get back to us. But we keep separating ourselves from Him.

And the Day of Atonement was how that relationship was restored, if only for a brief period of time.

Next week, I am going to share some details about this special day. My hope is that it will educate and encourage you.

So let me wrap this post up with this thought.

You and I cannot restore our relationship with God. We are unable to do anything that would fix it. It is literally impossible for us.

But there is hope. That relationship can be fully restored. But it takes 100% trust in God. Just like I had to trust 100% in my parachute this past weekend.

Stay tuned next week as I unpack and expound on an Old Testament ritual, with present-day ramifications.

Good night and God bless you.

Free Parking

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Welcome back! At least that is what I am saying to myself right now. I feel like I have been really busy lately.

Oh wait, I have. Being a school teacher, this is a crazy part of the year. So yes, I have been busy but now I am ready to write!

I started a series back in August. Here is the first post, and also the second. These can help give you context.

Free Parking

You have probably figured out by now that this series will all have Monopoly titles. While these titles may not be specifically related to the content, they will be directly drawn from the game.

Hence, Free Parking.

In the rules of Monopoly, Free Parking is just a space. It is a free space on which to land. You don’t get anything or pay anything. There are house rules that are certainly different from the original though!

On my road trip, we had one day in which we took a mini trip to Philadelphia.

Even though I had never been to Philly before, I had some places on my wish list that I needed to visit.

Liberty Bell, check.

Liberty Hall (where the Declaration of Independence was signed), check.

See the steps where Rocky ascended in the movie, check.

Eat a Philly cheese steak sandwich, check.

These were places (or food items) that I knew about. We also discovered a few more hidden gems along the way.

So in order to keep this to two minutes, I will have multiple posts regarding Philadelphia.

Here is the first connection from Philly that I would like to share.

It involves the Declaration of Independence, more accurately, the signing of the Declaration.

I am not concerned with how many signers there were.

It doesn’t matter where they were.

The signatures are of differing sizes, so what.

I am intrigued by the timing of the signing.

When these men laid ink to parchment, they were not free men. They were still under British rule.

The founding fathers chose to identify with the spiritual King, not their earthly king.

They were acting on their future freedom in America, not their present prison from England.

For me, the connection came to me when we were standing in Liberty Hall.

It hit me about the timing.

Technically, British rule still applied. But these men did not want that fact to determine the outcome of their life.

They were free. They said it, signed it, and sealed it!

What will you do with your freedom?

Better than a Golden Ticket

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Remember Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

There were 5 Golden Tickets hidden in five random Wonka Bars. If this is not jogging your memory, the book, the movie, and the remake movie are all fairly accessible.

golden ticket

I preferred the book.

Charlie, the poor little boy living on scraps with his parents and extended family, finds a Golden Ticket! He won!

That might be the shortest movie synopsis ever.

Charlie gets invited to Willy Wonka’s candy factory!

It would have been the most exhilarating and memorable occasion in Charlie’s life!

charlie and golden ticket

If you were wondering about this blog turning into a modern Siskel & Ebert, no worries. I would not be very good at reviewing and rating movies.

But I can draw connections from the things we know (movies and such) to the things with which we are not as familiar (God and His Word).

This post starts a series called “Better than a Golden Ticket” It will be taken from John 2, in the New Testament.

The chapter starts with a wedding. Jesus, his mother Mary, and the disciples are all present.

And that’s all you get for now.

sad charlie

For now, ponder this: If you were the one sending out golden tickets, who would you invite?

Lent, pt. 34

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Ready for this? I am attempting some poetry!

 

They go out,

But never return.

All things affected,

Sometimes hurting,

Other times, healing.

Words are powerful. And once we speak them, they cannot be pulled back.

I heard many words today. Honestly, most of them were not positive.

It really made me think how strong our words can be.

I also listened to many good words today. They felt refreshing.

words

Isaiah 55:11 speaks about words going out of God’s mouth and accomplishing His plan.

I softens my heart to know that God never speaks anything that is harmful or wrong.

There are times when His words are not welcome but they are always needed.

Read God’s word today. You can’t go wrong.

bible

And by the way, I think my poem really stinks.

 

 

Lent, pt. 20

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Traditions. Lent is a tradition.

When I think about what the word tradition means, I realized that it was not clear to me.

So I looked it up.

This what you get when you type ‘tradition definition’ in Google:

tra·di·tion
1. the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.
“every shade of color is fixed by tradition and governed by religious laws”
2. THEOLOGY: a doctrine believed to have divine authority though not in the scriptures.
It was the second portion that caught my attention.
It seems that millions of people observe Lent even though it is not in the bible.
I am going to chew on that for a while.
Initially, I want to say that we should disregard Lent because it is not scriptural.
But the motive behind it seems worthy. Doesn’t every believer want to know Jesus better?

I guess it goes back to motives.

Why?
As we are about to start the second half of Lent, check your motives.
I can say that there have been less-than-noble motives on my part.
I am ready to change some things.
May God grant you peace and mercy during this time.
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you tomorrow.