blog ~ faith ~ family ~ heartlife
The relationship humanity has with rules, is I think one which generally wants to buck them. The speed limit is to be nudged according to need, bedtime to be feigned as forgotten, ‘no’ taken as a maybe and ‘yes’ as a ‘what else is there?’
Continue reading “Rules and Twinkling Lights”
The woman described in Proverbs 31 brings anything and everything between motivation and interest to sighs and groans of loathing. This will depend on the age and season of the woman and her experience of marriage and family – but mainly it will depend on the way she has perceived the passage to have been taught. This little offering of mine is to share some thoughts as I see the chapter in question…
Continue reading ““That” woman!”
Understanding when the books of the Bible were ‘penned’ helps us understand the events, stories and intended meaning so much more… including helping us discern what is past, present and still yet future.
I gave a brief little Bible overview in a small group setting this week, and a friend asked if I’d write it down for her – which was of course my great delight. So here it is…
Continue reading “Hindsight is a different beast – Bible overview”
A friend, also new to the Bible, asked where to start with it. Here’s what I wrote for her….
The most real PRAYER is a heart that is truly engaged with the asking or the seeking… your question is a prayer and the fact you ask it means you KNOW God is real and you’re wanting to know Him… that in itself means you’ve heard HIS voice calling to you… the recognition of His absence can be the very first sign of His presence… of His heart calling to yours…
Continue reading “Approaching the Bible”
Miss 6 has to dress up as a “Town Person” for the Pre Primary nativity play… remembering my trusty Jewish Prayer shawl tucked away under the bed (I mean – who doesn’t have one?) I decided she could wear this for her costume. (Certainly beats having to figure out a camel!!)
Continue reading “Grafted in”
After I went to bed last night I had one of those “ah-ha!” penny-dropping kind of moments as I saw that across the span of my day, God had done another one of those full circle things.
In the morning, Miss 6 had chosen “The Good Samaritan” story book off the Pre Prim shelf for me to read to her. Its about the third time this year even though there are always fresh books, so I think she must like it. As I read, I wondered if the story version had been embellished a bit so when we finished, I opened the trusty Bible app on my phone and read it to her from there.
As I read, I was struck with the geography of the story. Now I’m not strong in the area of mapping but some time ago I did get very interested in where the towns of the Bible actually are in relation to each other, so going on memory I thought, Jerusalem and Jericho are across from each other, but Samaria is way to the north! So this chappy, TGS, was well out of his home region. Which explains why he took the injured dude to an inn but what struck me is that TGS was on a journey and a mission of his own. He was in a region not his home and helping someone was even more inconvenient than normal.
But he did it.
So not only did Jesus use someone of a nation the Jews typically hated (and were hated in return) to illustrate His point, but He added dimension to the story by setting it at a distance from the Samaritans home. The Jewish law expert got doubly stung. Particularly as the question that he asked of Jesus directly before He tells the story is this: “And who is my neighbour?”
Then a few hours later in Koorong, the ONLY book I pick up to glance through, on the very first page I see, is a map showing Jerusalem and Jericho across from each other and Samaria to the north. Yes! Love it when I get geography right!! Jerusalem to Jericho perhaps a days walk, and depending on where in Samaria… about double that distance. Jesus COULD have set the story IN Samaria but have only made HALF the point. But without knowing the lay of the land, we miss the other half. Yes I’ve known the Samaritan was on a journey, but it seems God wanted to make a point to ME yesterday in understanding more completely this fact.
And then the third part of the circle was my trip into the city… my discomfort and reactions to the people on the street… some wounded in their lives and minds and choices, others not-so, but all very impacting and thought provoking.
And then the complete full circle moment in bed, as I saw the beginning of the day, reading the Good Samaritan to Tarri – and the way He stepped me through a complete experience in Him.
*Every Friday afternoon I dash about madly trying to get ready for the weekend and trying to get the weeks washing hung before dinner time. On Friday afternoons I find myself thinking on the Jewish women of old, and the Jewish women of today who still live this way – all busily preparing for the Sabbath, getting all the work done by sundown the end of the 6th day, bringing in the 7th, the day of rest till sundown 24 hours later.
Continue reading “Prophetic spotlight”
Reading the story of Gideon this morning…
If I said something to a person and their reply was a contradiction beginning with the words “pardon me but” – I think I would take that as sarcasm. Or cheekiness.
Continue reading “Gideon the cheeky”
When I was a young teen, the topic of the second coming/the rapture/the tribulation/end of days was a hot and common topic in the church. It does still come up, but much less than years ago and mostly I think viewed with suspicion and there-goes-a-fruit-loop-ism these days. Suspicion is good if it makes you look for Bible truth, and so is there-goes-a-fruit-loop-ism for the same reason, but mostly I think it’s I’m-havening-a-nice-life-don’t-interrupt-me-ism or maybe a case of no-one-ever-told-me-Jesus-is-coming-back-ism. Or maybe fear.
Continue reading “Trumpet sounds”
Moving through Genesis, thinking about marriage.
Events that are recorded in the Bible are sometimes exactly that.
A record of events. It’s a mistake to assume every event in the Bible is there as a stamp of approval, a recommendation, or a permission.
Continue reading “Context!”