Tag Archives: God

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.

New York Ave.

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Question for you: What color is New York Ave. on a standard Monopoly board?

You probably already saw this picture so you know that the color is orange.

Monopoly Game Board Mixed Media - The Monopoly New York Ave. Card by Jas Stem

Another, slightly more difficult, question: Where is it located on the board? And don’t peek at the picture!

Homeowners find huge handprinted Monopoly board underneath carpet | The Independent

On our road trip, we took one day to hit Manhattan (that’s the connection to New York Ave.) and see the sites. My wife booked a bus/walk tour which turned out to be awesome. Now we can now check off some of the highlights of the Big Apple.

This picture shows the 5 Burroughs of New York City. Manhattan is an island! The Hudson and East Rivers flow on either side of it.

But the fascinating part is what I learned on the tour. Because there is bedrock underneath the island, tall buildings can be built.

The island has a foundation that can stand strong beneath the weight of all those skyscrapers!

The deeper the bedrock, the taller the building!

If you have read any of my blogs, you probably know that there is a spiritual/biblical connection about to be made. This particular connection is found in Matthew 7.

24“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

My friends, we are like Manhattan. How tall our buildings can go depends on how deep our bedrock goes. The buildings in our life are the things that we do. This includes jobs we work, people we relate to, and even the words we speak.

These are all public things. Just like the buildings of Manhattan, people can see the works of our lives.

Do we live to show off our good deeds?

Even as I write this, I feel convicted.

My private life with God determines the course of my public life.

The deeper that I get with God, the more people will see that fruit in my life.

The more intimacy with God, the more influence with people.

God needs to do something on the inside before we can do something on the outside.

Without Him, we are unable to do anything.

Now, how do I transition to a suitable conclusion?

I’d say this: visit Manhattan, play Monopoly, and seek God earnestly.

The Bell and the Cross

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Happy Sunday night! At least that is when I am writing this post.

It has been a while since I posted so I want to bring you up to speed.

Actually, if you read these posts, that will be sufficient.

Read them in this order:

  1. Advance Token to Boardwalk
  2. Go To Jail. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200
  3. Free Parking

If reading this post plus the first three turns into 8 Minutes with Tim, I trust it will be worth it.

I ended the last post with the idea that we have true freedom. At least, in Christ we do.

In short, we can summarize that freedom in one idea. One word. One symbol.

The Cross.

Just as the Liberty Bell symbolizes our freedom in this country, the cross symbolizes the freedom we have in Jesus.

So when you see a cross, let it remind you of what God has given you. And then take time to thank Him.

Amazon.com: Holy Land Market Resin Cross - Olive Wood Tone - Very Smooth Wall Cross (7.6 Inches) : Home & Kitchen

Thank you for reading. See you next time!

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?

Go to Jail, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200.

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You might recognize the title of this post. You certainly will if you have ever played Monopoly.

As I mentioned in my last post, (click here to read) I recently was on a road trip with my family.

In the rule book from the original Monopoly game, there is a reference to Atlantic City. The creator of Monopoly had vacationed in Atlantic City with his wife. When he made the game, he named all of the streets after streets that he saw in Atlantic City.

So I made it my mission, as a lover of board games, to find these streets.

There are some websites with pertinent information and of course generic internet searches.

I was warned by some locals that the streets are not exactly the same ones that are used in the game.

I was lenient in my expectations. Over the course of the week, I took selfies with all of the streets in the game.

Take a look.

I hope you can read the words!

My wife and kids were also enjoying the adventure.

Before the week was out, I completed the quest!

So what would the connection be here?

John 10:10 says that Jesus came “to give life and life more abundantly”.

It is my opinion that my quest in Atlantic City was part of the “life more abundantly”.

God gives blessings to His children. And I feel blessed by HIm every day.

What blessing are you enjoying today?