Seven, Eight, Nine...

I have no idea what’s going to happen today. I’m not a prophet; I hope I haven’t led anyone to think that I am. God is not one to allow himself to be forecast like the weather or the stock market. He gives plenty of clues, but this numbers thing… it’s a tentative business and should never supersede simple patience and trust.

Though there are worldly explanations for the stock market’s decline Tuesday (and the Nikkei’s slide as I write this late Tuesday night) I would not be surprised if there were not some deeper, nameless sense of foreboding at work in the minds of traders and investors… a sense, like I had, that something is ‘up’. I find it at least remarkable that, on the day about which I had a ‘hinky feeling’ several weeks ago, the lead story in the markets section of the WSJ for Wednesday, July 8th begins, “Fear Takes Toll… After more than three months of greed, fear is returning to global financial markets.”

Some fear is good. It’s all about how it’s directed though. That’s the key. That and listening to the right voices; not the ones that will be panicking, but the still, calm, steady voice that says ‘come to me’. Do I hear from God? Yeah, over time there’s been this growing certainty that I do, in various ways, usually but not always subtle — dreams, music, ‘coincidences’, people, situations, license plates, scripture. Lots of ways. Like any good relationship, it’s on multiple channels (think phone, e-mail, cards, letters, gifts, etc.).

I know he hears from me too… lots of things that have happened, over the 7+ years since he shook me up and turned me around. It’s not always ‘yes’, but he hears. I’m absolutely sure of it. It’s not any different from you moderately prayerful folks out there and it’s likely pretty thin stuff from the perspective of those I know to be serious prayer warriors.

So who knows? Only God. And we can trust him. We really can. No matter what. We must remember that.

Whether it’s explosions, looting, war, panic, H5N1 and the antichrist finally revealed or just another summer day, the Bible is still true, God still reigns, Christ is Lord and our faith shouldn’t be any less just because some dude with a blog got to thinking too much and bought some extra groceries.

Still, I’d be lying if I didn’t still expect something to happen in the next two weeks. Even if you’re only reading the news and not your Bible, there’s just too much going on to imagine that July will close as a slow news month. Whatever goes down, most of it won’t be subtle. It’s our reaction that counts. Many will be in shock and remain in disbelief. They’ll just shake their fists at their bad ‘fortune’ rather than looking in the mirror, asking hard questions and then getting down on their knees.

That’s not my opinion. It’s all spelled out in Revelation. Even when it’s clear the game is up, many will want to keep playing on their own terms and not surrender. It’s all part of the process. For some, heaven would be hell and God will not violate their free will after they’ve made their choice clear. And they will make it clear.

If you’re reading this and you’re not inclined to take God seriously, do at least this: read some stories. Here are the ones for my six-month-skewed One Year Bible. And here are the ones from the Catholic readings for today. I think they’re both remarkable, given what I think is coming at us, but regardless, they’re good, hearty stuff that will stick with you like a long-simmered, yummy stew your mom cooked. I’ve pulled out some long excerpts below, but all of it is worth reading. Always is.

If nothing else, you’ll probably learn something. I did. Even when I thought I knew it all. Still do. Learn, that is. Maybe you’ll see some connections. Same deal. I have. Maybe God will speak to you. If you ask his Son Jesus in true humility, he will. I guarantee it. The response may not come right away or in the form you expect, but he will answer you if you ask honestly and truly listen. It’s a better bet than anything else in these troubled times — or even in the good ones (which aren’t coming back so you may not have as much to lose as you imagine you do.)

If we’re back here later today, tomorrow, or next week, then OK. If not, thanks for reading. I hope to catch up with most of you in the next place. I understand we’ll have plenty of time there. God bless.

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Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
…
Then the men [angels] said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”
…
God Destroys Sodom

The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD. And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

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Do Not Be Anxious

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Judging Others

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
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Ask, and It Will Be Given

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

The Golden Rule

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

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LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

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For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
men whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways.

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When hunger came to be felt throughout the land of Egypt
and the people cried to Pharaoh for bread,
Pharaoh directed all the Egyptians to go to Joseph
and do whatever he told them.
When the famine had spread throughout the land,
Joseph opened all the cities that had grain
and rationed it to the Egyptians,
since the famine had gripped the land of Egypt.
In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain,
for famine had gripped the whole world.

The sons of Israel were among those
who came to procure rations.
…
“Now comes the reckoning for his blood.” [they said]
The brothers did not know, of course,
that Joseph understood what they said,
since he spoke with them through an interpreter.
But turning away from them, he wept.

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R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
The LORD brings to nought the plans of nations;
he foils the designs of peoples.
But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
But see, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

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Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
…
Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,
“Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

Indeed, it is! Hallelujah!

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