Do You See the Giraffes? ... Where Are The Giraffes?

 

I like to share a simple Christian children's book with a child who isn't reading yet, when nothing is rushed and no one is fighting and when I can make lesson plans that use little elements from a book.

Whether we're hearing new words and looking at numbers, or finding the giraffes outside of Noah's big boat, or learning by association that 'A' is for animals, I have a certain peace and comfort when toddlers seem to have the same, looking at those books.

That's why I always ask an employer whether Christian books are welcome.

For Food on Our Tables, We Thank Heaven

Where faith is involved, beware of

some of the AI summaries offered on

Google. While some are just great, or

are Holy Spirit directed, others go

far off course, as in the summary

above, and as in a Google AI overview

I saw earlier, falsely implying not only

that three meals a day came about

through commercial or industrial

supply and greed, but that the word

"breakfast" came about through breaking

fasts after times of morning prayers. ...

Jesus, help us.

Jesus hosted a breakfast on the shore of Galilee.

The disciples gleaned corn to eat during daylight hours.

Jesus fed a multitude sometime before dusk, and He offered His last meal in earth during twilight hours.

Since Jesus' walk in earth, God has given us keys to a lot of science, so that we understand not only that the infant needs (not craves) nutrition multiple times each day, particularly after sleep times, but also exactly what the child needs.

When I was a small child, I didn't have any reason to doubt when my parents said breakfast is the most important meal of the day, that it breaks a fast after eight or more hours sleep, and that I needed to eat.

Eating breakfast is based on biological need, not religious timing and not internal impulses alone.

To folk who believe otherwise, ... you need Jesus - and common sense.

~

Where Jesus says, "Those who eat my flesh ..." (John 6:56), that mystery has unraveled to mean we worthily accept unlevened bread and crushed grapes in fellowship or communion together, as symbols or substitutions for consuming His literal body (for His yoke, His word, is easy and not a burden like this world's burdens, and un-pregnant bread and crushed grapes were the example He gave at communion with His first disciples, knowing the need to express purity, and knowing there would be parts of the church that generally would refuse meats). But when we part from oneness of fellowship or communion, there become matters of how to maintain health and strength bodily or physically; and He knew we wouldn't all agree about sustenance to be thankful to Heaven for. He knew we wouldn't all understand clean meat, nor spiritual moderation in eating, nor clean meat as bought by His blood as a substitute not for His flesh in communion but as an expression of His pardon in eating of actual flesh that He intended or planned for the willing to eat. ... My God, how good Jesus is (Jesus: not a business called World Meat Market, not somebody's steakhouse, not sauce or anything else of mannish ideals - but Jesus and His way of redemption, moderation, and provision). ... These are good thoughts before fasting from many meats, for example, before Easter: Easter being one small reminder that God (in the person of His Son), was not physically eaten (Lamentations 3:22-24).

Health-Nutrition Talk: A Preview and Transcript

I have WONDERED and wondered how to begin talking to

• family

• co-workers

• and our greater community

about a few of our nutritional and health needs, in ways we maybe don't normally consider.

I thought why not begin with how I worried about a child who only would drink heavy sugar drinks and only would eat salty, at a time when at least one in five of our children in the U.S. were prediabetic:

That's one in five -- a number that has grown to possibly one in three, according to CDC analy-ses scientists want to better understand in 2025. 

And I wondered whether I should start this talk another way:

And I decided to start by saying

• experienced dieticians all are different in how they approach health communications. My college background is in journalism, and I've looked to all kinds of write-ups about our health.

I've seen articles that try coaching us to pick this snack food at Chick-fil-A, or pick this one at Subway, or the most crazy thing I've seen has been to take half your bun off of your hamburger.

• But there also are a lot of absolutely sane health articles that are peer-reviewed by doctors, nurses, and diaticians. And those articles, with sometimes a little word of advice from a loved one, have helped me navigate hard times.

• I've had a lot of guidance.

But what about the child who spends more than a few months running to the store to get a little boxed cereal for him and his brother when his mom hasn't been doing well and he doesn't know what else to choose or to do?

And what about most of us in the U.S., who just don't think much of food and the body?

When it comes to our health, I think too many people have gotten wrong ideas when health professionals have generalized and oversimplified comments for magazine and blog articles and TV news.

And I think that, often, lay people run in wrong directions with those generalizations:

One result is that

• some people overwhelm the internet with stuff that says to diet, diet, diet:

to diet this way and that way, when none of it really meets us at our needs.

Some people wind up saying things that amount to, "Don't eat bread. Count your carbs. Don't drink whole milk," and on and on.

But truth is

• that bread is not the enemy, but that it helps to understand different kinds of bread and bread density;

• and that rice is among the most health-wise and affordable foods we have, if we know one rice from another, and especially if we have certain rices with certain other foods;

• and that cattle milk --

beginning from when time began for the human race --

was as much part of God's plan to sustain us as were leafy greens, beans, and peas.

I believe in the Bible that says my Savior came eating milk curds!

And I believe in science that says it's reasonable to recognize an epidemic trend in heart disease, from 20th-century food consumption, didn't come from drinking milk, but did come from trans-fats that were in a majority of what we were eating, be it foods prepared with margerine or shortening, fast foods and TV dinners, or foods more generally cooked with oils that were used and reused, on top of many cooking oils not being the best oils for cooking.

And as to what we need for food every day, it just helps us to know a little about our bodies and the goals we need as individuals.

When I've been prediabetic, I've needed to know maltodextrin is a thickener that's in everything from some commercial pizzas, to Ensure and most other complete-protein nutrition-replacement drinks;

• that maltodextrin spikes blood sugar higher than table sugar;

• and that one of the things I really need to do when times are tough is drink milk, milk, and even whole milk, especially considering I have NOT fallen prey to the lactose-intolerance that has grown among newborns today.

I've also needed to understand milk CAN help cover my hydration needs, and that the amount of sugar in a cup of orange juice is a good measure of what limits I should set on an every-now-and-then serving of ice cream;

• or that that ice cream treat goes better with a burger, because real beef's natural fat can help prevent a rise in blood sugar that wears me out and that raises the risk of diabetes.

When I've fought viruses and other infections, I've needed to understand complete proteins with vitamin D are as important as vitamin C -- that vitamin C and other dietary acids only go so far.

When I've been anemic, I've needed to understand there are different kinds of anemia, that iron isn't our only need:

• that I get more iron if I'm eating whole foods with iron and vitamin C;

• that B12 anemia means that, among other foods, I should probably decide on a once-a-week real-beef burger from a place where burgers are not fatty or greasy, and that whole chicken (including its beneficial fat) can help a little, too.

When I've considered some blood disorders can sometimes mimic sickle-cell anemia, causing cells to misshape a little when there is over-exertion and not enough hydration, I've needed to be even more mindful of all we need each day.

So the bottom line is that I want to talk about food and health awareness, or mindfulness, not special diets or trends or silly advice, but some common-sense things our foreperents seemed to miraculously understand, despite falling prey to things like alcoholism, trans-fats, and sugar-sugar!

If you're interested, we should speak to one another!

He Never Meant Us To Be without Mother and Father, But ...

 

I'm not a Smoothie King customer. But I had to stop there today, because I needed a restroom when I off-boarded a bus.

Smoothie King was not on the way in Jesus, not for me today, but life sometimes ignores our heart in Him, sometimes ignores that commerce apart from kindness isn't king in my heart, but that goodwill, peace, living secure in Him all are - all with a lot of help in Him.

With that said, I have a tangent:

The love of Jesus says not to put even mother or father above, in place of, or in the name of our Heavenly Father, not in the name of the only God who created us from nothing at all, the only Heavenly Father who hopes for all of us among the masses.

Only God in Heaven is our everlasting king, who gives me hope for the unduly departed, even for the Bernie Mac who portrayed absolute fatherly love.

Why not make fathers king in place of God above?

The Jesus, the Son who lives in many earthly (not worldly) fathers, tells us so many reasons why not. Here are only a quick few reasons why not:

• No matter how perfect an earthly father or dad, all have fallen short of perfection in Jesus.

• Earthly fathers are not without wrong perceptions or misunderstanding; but oh, thank God for his perfect understanding of us all. (God knows His children don't need destroying. He knows when the problem is that we simply need release from something satanic that's taking hold.)

• God knows there will be times of loss, times when parents leave us for Heaven (prayerfully, very late in life). That's in contrast to how God alone is always there for us, always Heavenly Father.

• God's will is for us not to adore one another to the point of worshipping one another (even though living honorably toward mother and father, not shamefully, is part of our life's calling); but, instead, it's more important for fathers and children alike to look forward to being with Him in the heavenly realm, one day.

• God needs us to be Heaven minded.

• And there are so many things we must depend on God for that only God can do, although we know He needs earthly fathers to do their parts, too.

Amen.

I Can't Explain ...

 

When a crazy-popular celebrity dies, fans who fantasize may say the celebrity, the idol of mind, has not died. And a few psychologists may try to twist that phenomenon into their atheistic way of thinking about eternal life.

But Jesus is so much better to us than that. In a world at battle against Him, in a world ill enough to manufacture a missile meant to blasphemy His finished work of giving God's life in flesh on one appointed cross, Jesus still proves Himself faithful to us, every day of our lives in Him.

One day over this past year, I was at a Walmart store where a song on the store's radio broadcast, brimmed with new life -- but without saying anything about faith in what God has done. ... Oddly, the song reminded me a little of a celebrity who died in the 1990s, leaving a legacy of blasphemy or unpardonable sin.

I don't have any way of knowing who was singing that new song. I can't remember the song's melody or even what the song was saying. But I remember a voice that sounded a little like a godless celebrity redeemed, or a son of celebrity brimming with honest to God freedom in Jesus.

Living in a backslidden world, we do struggle against enemies, whether those enemies are atheism, terrible habits, or the kind of idolatry that clings to a godless past or that, on the other hand, denies that there is power or deliverance in Jesus.

But thank God the battle's already won.

~

In the Old Testament, a man named Elijah called for a group of false prophets to be slain. Unlike John the Baptist, who Jesus commended as "the last and the greatest" of old prophets, Elijah was ultimately a violence-for-violence preacher. Elijah shows us the agony of living in a world before God gave us Jesus: a reality still lived in many parts of our world today. But John the Baptist signaled a time of spiritual freedom -- freedom from a sinful world -- before succumbing to that old world he knew would perish.

In Elijah's case, there was a man who cleaved to Elijah the way a son without Jesus might hold to an earthly father. The man, Elisha, witnessed something maybe hard to explain at that time. It's more probable than not that the sons of prophets slain by Elijah, came to Elijah and Elisha at nightfall, bearing torches on a chariot or wagon, and swiftly knocked Elisha into a stupor while carrying Elijah away under stormy weather.

Apparently, in those grim times, stormy weather emboldened men's enemies, as when the Chaldeans attacked Job's estate.

And isn't it remarkable how a storm passed over at the death of God's own flesh, when Jesus was crucified?

... I'm so glad, today, that we've already obtained victory over grim times.

He Gave Us Everything Needed for Living

 

So much online tries to pull us into arguments about putting our morals and ethics above leading others to salvation. Some bloggers - even ministers - even muddy the waters with foolishness about Muslim morality, Hindu morality, on top of silly arguments about "morality versus ethics."

One good article I wish I could find again, points out that many, many people groups teach that an individual earns salvation in Jesus through good works, when nothing could be further from truth.

The Bible comforts us in saying, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." The Bible tells of New Testament disciples who searched the scriptures to reassure themselves that what was being preached was true.

And the Bible encourages us to "correct" one another, as members of Jesus, "in the Spirit of gentleness."

The good article I mentioned is a reminder that the Holy Spirit is our guide as people who already know Jesus. And His word is food for our daily journey.

In Jesus, we know anyone can have personal morals, and that ethics are only what we express as groups of people who have shared values or morals (Romans 2:14-15).

But for the Christian, personal values are outgrowths of heartfelt faith, outgrowths of the salvation in Jesus that God freely gave us. Personal values, for the Christian, are part of maturing: growing in sanctification over the whole of whatever life span we have after realizing salvation.

Without personal convictions, we make poor witnesses in the faith.

... Jesus, help us in our walk, every day (Proverbs 4:27). Help us pick up your easy to carry cross each day, and live.

Can the Season of Lent Bring an End to Fighting?

 

Food for Thought: Christians who are strong in faith

would not want vegetarians to force a diet that's
less than what's needed for wellbeing; so we shouldn't
want to force meats on those who are vegetarians,
 who feel all meat eating is immoral.

Not every Christian has Lent as part of the Easter season. Most don't acknowledge Lent, and many are not aware of Lent, at all. Lent is not a command from Jesus!

But Lent, for maybe a majority of Catholic believers, is a heartfelt tradition of feeling closer to God, denying temptation, during the 40 days leading up to Easter.

Many of the faithful who make a personal vow about what they will and will not eat or do during the Lenten season, are thinking about how Jesus didn't eat anything for 40 days in a barren desert where Satan tempted Him.

Some give up eating all meats for 40 days; some may commit to personal ideas like a diet of fish, dry bread, and bitter herbs; some may eat nothing at all for one or two days of each week; some may only eat vegetables without bread; some may do silly things like saying no chocolate or morning lattes for them during Lent; and some may commit to doing things that altogether jeopardize their health or wellbeing, eating as little as small birds and subjecting themselves to suffering.

Yet, some people agree that many of those commitments aren't really in keeping with the life God has given us. And keep in mind, no one can demand how your Lenten season should be, neither what you can or cannot eat, nor whether being more like Jesus means outright suffering.

The Savior who we find in Jesus has taught many of us differently than that. Among many of us, Jesus leads us away from or helps us rebuke suffering. We know that He suffered so that our lives wouldn't be all about suffering. He even gave us instructions not to make fasting about suffering.

He says, "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full." (Matthew 6:16, NIV)

So personal times of fasting or abstaining should be about needing a closeness to God, not about being subjected to the ways of others, like many who were taken hostage in Gaza.

Being subjected to suffering or to the beliefs of others isn't what God means when He says the saints (the church) will judge even angels (messengers). When He says things like, "Let judgment begin at the house of God," God is not telling His people to run around destroying people's provision (nor the sense of thanks giving that feels close to Him) to make people fast and suffer and even to be unclean!

Instead, God is saying to (a) settle disputes between believers in His church, and to (b) examine the body of His church and judge/correct/rebuke transgressions that are destroying the body, even if doing so means removing a member of the body who believes sexual sin is permitted or is part of life in the body of the Holy Spirit.

God, our Heavenly creator, doesn't smile at the idea of people quarreling and destroying foods that He provides, instead of people recognizing that Heaven isn't about the food but is about repenting of all the hell many people are doing.

The Holy Spirit doesn't put fights about food above needing to end assaults against the body of His word! That can be kind of difficult to see or to discern in many translations of Heaven's words, but there is a translation that makes one helpful passage of the Bible a little more plain to see: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%206&version=NIRV.

How many times does the word of God say to put food fighting aside and focus on what matters between Heaven and hell?

He says, "Let us not ... judge one another any more ... " in matters of who eats acceptable meats and who refuses acceptable meats. He says sexual sins (inequities passed from one generation to another, one people to another, causing even children to stumble in sin) are the chief of problems, the ungodly master of problems, plaguing His people everywhere.

He says, yes, like you say, "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food" (1 Corinthians 6:13), and, yes, He "will destroy both (food) and the (body)" after there is physical death. But He says neither the physical nor the spiritual body was created for sexual sin. "The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body."

People practicing sexual sins at any time, but especially during times set aside for greater closeness to Heaven, are those fallen away from pure faith right now.

Hebrews 13:4: "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous."

"For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." (Romans 8:6)

... Maybe Lent is a reasonable time to focus on the promise of His peace while eating.

The Patience of Job

I don't have any way of knowing everything the maker
of the above story illustrations has in heart about Job.
But I think the drawing of Job in a loin cloth, like
Jesus on the cross, is only one way of understanding
how Job saw himself as naked before God.

Job was an humble man. He was not like Jonah, who cursed at a people who God was determined to save. Unlike Jonah, Job was not only humble; Job was incredibly patient in affliction.

Job was not clairvoyant. He didn't know all things from God's point of view. Like the apostle Paul who came centuries after him, Job only saw his living as if looking into a dim mirror. He was surely guided in thought by the Holy Spirit, but he didn't see all things that God saw.

Job did not know it was Satan (not God!) who God had allowed to ruin life as Job knew life to be.

Job may not have remembered, or may not have known, that God had not taken part in a tornadic wind that Elijah had witnessed. But Job was obedient to understanding, in the Spirit, that God had some purpose in taking all of his adult children while they were partying in a windy storm.

When Job said, "The Lord gives, the Lord takes away," that was Job's most heartfelt, humble defense of his heart of faith. Not knowing the whole of his circumstances, Job could not say anything such as, Curse the devil.

All he could do, being in faith, is know that God had some purpose. He didn't need to know God was allowing Satan to take life and to otherwise destroy. Job didn't need to know God's hand of protection was guarding Job's soul while the devil was destroying nearly all else. Job didn't need to know it was not pleasing to God to see so much destroyed, and so much against Job's heart of faith.

But in his humility, Job essentially felt, God gave me, and God may take away.

~

"For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. So while we are in this tent, we groan under our burdens, because we do not wish to be unclothed but clothed, so that our mortality may be swallowed up by life ... ."

2 Corinthians 5:2-4

    

Being alone in the Holy Spirit, Job seemed to know of his flesh as an earthly covering that one day would lose its inner spirit. Job essentially said, Naked I came into this world [in spirit without earthly flesh], and in spirit without earthly flesh will I return to the spiritual place of womb-like rest that we accept as Heaven.

The Search for Home

 

A very blessed pastor in Houston ends each sermon asking souls to come to faith. He asks those who've been away from knowing Jesus is our Savior to pray a prayer like this:

"Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. ... ."

He says, "If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. Get in a good Bible-based church, and keep God first place."

And I say to myself, amen.

But what is a good Bible-based church?

For me, it's where is home. It's safe pasture for those who call it home. It's where the redeemed, the saved, know they've broken with a life of being lost or of being without Jesus in heart and without Him in knowledge.

It's where we each can give an account for the past, as well as for day to day problems, without being counted as sheep for slaughter.

It's where no one has permission to destroy us in soul, because Jesus is the shepherd who stands in the way, who serves as the "door" to the sheep fold.

It's where we are cured of sins simply through right believing.

It's where it's our "reasonable service" to sit comfortably, restfully, at the feet of the shepherds who feed us knowledge and correction in God's word, "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the building up" of every body in the church (Ephesians 4:12).

It's where sinful pasts are overcome and we're known anew, where no one is perfect but we become more and more blameless, where we grow to have fewer and fewer faults. It's where we find a supportive friend or circle of of friends to speak openly with, with discretion and only at God's leading, so there is always accountability and healing.

It's where we have communion. It's where a pastor is blameless, indeed.

It's where deliverance from the world's pitfalls is a given. It's where you know someone will be there with you if ever you are troubled.

It's where there sometimes is personal fellowship and food, and peace for our souls. ... It's where God won't let us fall.

Amen.

He Didn't Say Israel Didn't Repair Shoes!

 

Why is anyone doubting God? While He did

say Israel's shoes were not worn out, He

didn't say the people weren't

making shoe repairs!

Just think:

Israel had livestock. Their painful history was written on cured animal skins. They made tents of animal skins. So what made up the soles of their shoes, most likely?

It wasn't a pleasant history.

I just thank Heaven we have life in Jesus, who's guidance is so much easier than the learning-the-hard-way in Israel's long journey.

...

More to think through:

• Jesus, living in the Spirit now, no longer hungers or thirsts. God is not hungry. Yet, He cares to feed us abundantly and has made the way through both the sacrificial love and sword of God's word.

• God gave mankind the cattle on a thousand hills. But He did not give anyone a thousand wives. (Even Solomon repented.) And He didn't give permission to molest or abuse anyone's body. In fact, the love of Jesus specifically tells the church to cleanse as with the washing of water through Heaven's word!

• I always thank Heaven for saving our souls, for valuing our souls moreso than all of creation.

And I thank God for giving us cattle on a thousand hills. ... But going to the grocery store shouldn't feel like mockery of that. There shouldn't be so much meat at any given store that it feels like a slaughter house. ... 

"Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come

with their mocking, following after their own lusts ... ." (2 Peter 3:3)

When there's a day like that, thank God for fish!

Easy Truths Some People Don't Know or Don't Apply

 

✓ As long as I'm keeping faith, times of fasting are situational (Mark 9:29), not seasonal. (Keep in mind, some fasts may be for years, and, even then, only God knows exactly what I've done.) Fasting with all your heart, calling on scripture to abstain from Sonic for a long while, is never the same as being forced not to eat foods.

✓ There is no greater hurt than knowing a child is going outside of Jesus and cursing at anyone. (Matthew 21:16)

✓ Marital intimacy, for those who are called to marry someone, has to be consensual and pure-hearted (1 Corinthians 7:5, Hebrews 13:4, for example).

✓ The church is Heaven's "bride" in Spirit, not in any way sexual (Ephesians 5:25-26). So people in church who haven't received God's leading to marry (1 Corinthians 7:8), ought to feel devoted to celibacy, enjoying Jesus, looking forward to earthly deliverance, kept safe from harm in as much as possible, as if a wife who is clean in Spirit and waiting for Heaven.

✓ There does come a time when the church must stop hating and rebelling in sin. Period, dot. (Revelation 21:26-27)

✓ God forgives tatoos. But any record of wrong written on our bodies, ought to be blotted out! Try Genesis 6:7, Psalm 139:16, Psalm 51:10-11, James 4:14, Romans 1:24, 2 Timothy 1:7, Psalm 139:13, Leviticus 19:28, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, John 3:16. (Don't you know God saved your hide?!)

...

What Bible truth do you think about when others may not know, may not want to know, or may not care? (Anonymous comments are very much welcome.)

Can Coffee be a Candidate for Grace?

 

Some folk seem obsessed with how food looks, how tea doesn't look the same as pure water, and how neither does coffee.

The brown color alone puts some people on an anti-coffee bandwagon.

Let's not even talk about the caffeine in coffee putting even a little strain on the heart muscle. And let's not mention that some scientists, historically, got used to associating coffee drinking with people who consume tobacco.

Instead, let's say smokers aren't the only folk who drink coffee, and science has looked closely at non-smoking coffee consumption. And let's say business trends like Starbucks, with sales helping support production in majority black and brown countries, helped bring a lot of folk out of a coffee-is-taboo frame of mind. (Although, Starbucks costs too much.)

And let's say that although coffee isn't right for children, neither is mouthwash; yet many of us as adults do use mouthwash!

Then, after saying all of that, let's weigh coffee against the grace of God we have in Jesus.

Did Jesus pay for our coffee through His journey to the cross? Did He go to the cross with coffee in mind?

Of course, He didn't.

Jesus gave His life with our our individual souls in mind. His grace in so doing has paid for our every need, and has freed us to make choices about at least a few of our wants.

So while a gourmet coffee lifestyle isn't necessarily what His grace has given us, grace certainly does have therapeutic provisions in mind.

And while Heaven doesn't want us dependent on therapy above our faith in Him, I believe God certainly has made the way for responsible coffee drinking. (I just wish a lot of coffee packaging could be a color other than red.)

But Where Is Therapy in Coffee?

While it is kind of well known that green tea and black tea have antioxidants, which help prevent the junk in our bloodstream from damaging our cells, it is not as well known that coffee does a better job at preventing the cell damage we get from that junk -- junk that science refers to as "free radicals."

It sounds new age and flaky to say drinking something from nature helps prevent damage from "free radicals," but that is an honest to Heaven fact of this life.

And, besides that simple fact of the matter, coffee does some other cancer-fighting things for us that science is still trying to understand.

It turns out those cups of coffee on hospital trays don't only to help patients shake away sleep and get acclimated to living more fully each day. Although the coffee bean cannot aid all types of cancer recovery or prevention, it can be an aid in at least some cancer cases and, more importantly, has other health benefits.

Some compounds in coffee may help slow memory decline and have been helpful in some Alzheimer's and Parkinson's cases. One tiny study shows improvements in short-term memory in memory-impaired animals (not because of caffeine's positive effect on brain function, but because of a certain antioxidant in cacao). It's tiny studies like that that have given weight to the great many observational studies science communities have done.

And again at risk of seeming a little flaky, let's say coffee (without sugar) also apparently helps fight diabetes -- a topic for some other day, maybe some other blog.

Just thank God not for coffee, but for providing for us. ...

Can coffee (and can an asthma inhaler) be a candidate for grace? ... No, not exactly; but the coffee drinker, like the asthma patient, can be.

Aren't the Best Instructions at the End?

 

If the Bible can be counted kind of like a recipe book sometimes, the food for living the Bible gives is mostly in the New Testament.

My, my, my, do I have pet peeves about a lot of the photographs and other art illustrations that feature an open Bible.

Most of us are probably so used to seeing pictures, drawings, and other art showing the Bible opened midway, that we don't stop to think that the New Testament, where God fully makes Himself known to us, is not midway the Bible but is the last few pages, and that most of the Bible is God's record of sin and slavery and war and other turmoil with only brief glimmers of Old Testament insight into the Savior to come.

Because I, for one, know the hardships of people determined to live the Old Testament instead of loving the light of Jesus, it's a pet peeve to see art that superimposes an image of Jesus across some middle pages of the Bible, for example. And has anyone ever stopped to think how confusing it can be to someone who is trying to learn the Bible, to see things like

• a scripture saying Jesus is the "way," on a banner featuring a Bible opened midway?

• photographs of the Bible opened to middle pages, even on the cover art of books written about the New Testament?

• photographs deliberately doctored, to make the New Testament appear to begin midway the Bible?!

Who is it who is so obsessed with that Old Testament time when people were lost and many never knew the light of Jesus? Who is it who wants to point us to that time, as if that Old Testament time is Jesus?

It's downright difficult to find Christian art that shows a Bible opened to the New Testament. It's almost as if someone thinks it's a sin to acknowledge the New Testament as that part of God's witness to us that is able to stand on its own.

So when Jesus lets us know He is well able to divide, I believe by faith that the principle divide is around conflicts between Old Testament iniquity and New Testament faith.

Whenever some group or faction builds doctrine or a following around a grain of Old Testament "knowledge" that God didn't intend that way, maybe that always becomes a circumstance where we see the love of Jesus as divisive, with Him trying to bring us away from that ritualistic (even satanic!) use of the Old Testament.

The Old Testament is about learning the hard way. And there are plenty of lessons there about coping. But the New Testament is about staying on mission, learning in truth, fighting for life, and overcoming. And although there is persecution in Jesus, life in Him helps us endure, makes the way in life easier to bear, and ultimately yields freedom.

"My yoke [My word] is easy, and my burden is light," He says.

He remains the same, in our hearts, yesterday, today, forever,

says a New Testament word of comfort.

O Happy Day

 

... when Jesus washed our sins away

Some of this world's feelings about faith, are outrageous. And, sometimes, the Christian response has to be in saying Satan is busy. The Bible says it's a truth he bites us at a heel, but the church yet lives.

Raise Up a Child

 

If God ever grants you an awesome responsibility, let it be raising or helping to raise a child.

A neighbor, a single woman who had survived an unthinkable problem, was given a foster child who was a baby. But she gave up on the responsibility, I think too soon.

I'll never know just what happened to cause her to give up, but so much is happening now in the lives of even our youngest children, that I can only wish I could help to give a child stability that's absent even in my own life right now.

Although I can only wish to help, be it said I'm someone who could never be contented caring for just a pet. When I think of pets, I think of a pet for my family, for a child or more than one child.

By no means do I consider a child's well-being and think, "Oh, how cute."

But I think, "Raise up a child in the way to go, and when he or she grows older, this child will know better."

Amen.

When Getting Well Is a Fight for Heart and Mind

 

I wanted to send just the right prayerful thought of heart to a godparent. I didn't want to believe the worst could come to pass.

In my own daily battle for health, I had had many trying times, including days when it seemed as if all well-being would fail. I had felt sick unto death at times, but always fought back by taking God at His word, knowing He knew what was needed before I could even ask.

I fought back by being thankful in all circumstances, eating as needed. Any fasting was limited to keeping away, for years, from pizza (which I like very much) and some other less healthy choices.

I trusted God for the creditable health information I was finding. And, true to my findings, whole-grain oatmeal and baked or boiled chicken became two of my superfoods. Over the past six months, milk also has become a go-to.

I also was thankful to read and see medical breakthroughs were dramatically decreasing cancer morbidity. I trusted that everything ultimately is in Heaven's hands.

And if ever I was feeling especially ill, I was thankful for high-protein options at low costs.

Complete proteins from whole foods, are just as vital in the fight to maintain health, as essential minerals like iron are. And anytime I felt worse than weak, as if a virus was taking hold, or even as if my mind and physical balance were leaving me, I had baked chicken with other healing things to eat, and felt much better within hours.

An article from Harvard's School of Public Health admits, "Animal studies have found that deficiencies in zinc, selenium, iron, copper, folic acid, and vitamins A, B6, C, D, and E can alter immune responses." Yet the Harvard school repeatedly says, "It is unlikely that individual foods offer special protection."

Harvard isn't one of my favorite places to read health information. Their take on living seems to give up too easily. In holding to the idea that there is no such thing as superfoods, institutes like Harvard deny every scientifically faithful study that shows things like oatmeal lowering and keeping blood sugar stable, even to the point of bringing a patient out of intensive care; things like grapefruit, including bottled grapefruit juice, reducing not only inflammation and gut infection but also the size of tumors (though no cure for tumors); and, yes, the selenium, protein, and other help we get from baked or boiled chicken as supports for strong immune responses and decreased respiratory inflammation.

There also is denial, in Harvard's strong assertion, that certain fruits, like raspberries, can help lower cancer risks when eaten routinely as part of a balanced diet, and that some foods have been proven to help fight in active cancer battles.

As a matter of Christian faith, no, we don't put our faith in food. But we certainly thank the one who provides.

I thank Him for all things He makes possible, if we only trust that He is leading the way.

I thank Heaven I've not only read about why high protein when there's sickness, but have experienced high-protein as more than a health gimmick. And I know the benefits of high concentrations of complete proteins and vital vitamins and minerals are one advantage of eating foods like chicken whole, instead of eating processed cold-cuts or nuggets, which taste good only because of sodium (including cancer-causing preservatives), but are almost non-nutritional except for small amounts of protein.

There is a way to bless our faith in receiving daily sustenance. And though our knowledge will pass away from earth one day, we can thank Heaven for those things we have learned for a time such as this.

God Got Me!

 

No long sermon today. Just a reminder that working toward peace means having a clean heart in each thing you do, whether confessing sins, forgiving others their sins, or rebuking sins by the way you speak and do.

And because this is the message today, I think the third chapter of James is a good place to read.

I like the Young's Literal Translation (YLT) of this chapter. I like the YLT, because it clarifies that, when we do ministry (or when we're just living life!), we're not supposed to be "contentious," like when I said, and said again, that something wrong was b*******, and I didn't want to repent of saying that, even though b******* is a word I very much dislike.

When we're not pure in heart about something, it eventually springs forth in ways we don't like: not a good thing to happen, not a good way to be or to feel. And James reminds us spiritually salty water can't come from the same soul that curses.

I can't curse something someone did, and still be okay in Spirit!

So, like the YLT, two other Bible translations clarify that where many translations say "wisdom from above" is "impartial" (which isn't exactly true), the closer meaning is that spiritual wisdom is "without variance" or is "unwavering," "uncontentious."

That means that something upsetting should never cause us to waver into cursing or belligerence, should never cause spiritual unsteadiness, spiritual variance, or a partiality toward cursing. Because, with cursing, we may forfeit everything we've done in the Lord!

With cursing, instead of steadily warning and teaching, who ever will listen to us again?

When We Need Right Discernment in Bible Study

 

For the first time, I feel like I have a tough assignment in making a blog post. So many issues are rising up over the Bible word now, that it's difficult to know what to try to address first.

Some folk are bold enough in error now, that they'll forbid Christians to dispute wrongs, despite how Jesus tells us to take wrongs to your brother and reason it out, and to go to good witnesses and the church if your brother won't listen, and to know you've gained a brother if he is willing to listen and reason together.

God's word doesn't tell us not to dispute wrongs. Instead, Heaven says to

• reason together;

• take matters to the church;

• be peacemakers;

• suffer a wrong if the wrong doesn't have consequences that ruin our witness in Jesus;

• let all you do be for God's glory;

• commit everything you do to the Savior we have in Jesus, even if that means correcting or rebuking;

• avoid foolish arguments and godless mockery;

• never argue with a foolish person;

• run from evil when there isn't any way to bring truth and healing;

• know that God doesn't intend for any one person to help reach every single person who has been in his or her life or who has crossed paths with him or her (Luke 10:4; Jude 1:22, KJV; and other scriptures);

• correct in a Spirit of gentleness;

• know what the word is truly saying;

• recognize biblical error, and rebuke it;

• know that God's New Testament word is a "sword" that may divide even families or households, or that may make shake up a household's thinking; but know that that does not mean the Bible is a literal weapon that murders (not at all!);

• seek Jesus through His word, and seek a good Shepherd to help open up and translate, to give background, and to guide you through difficult Bible books and passages;

• know that, as a Christian, it's okay if your Spiritual feelings and insights are different from how the world sees (for example, the scripture that says we shine like starry light in this error-prone world, isn't about being above others, being known, having notoriety, nor celebrity; it's about being a quiet light, among millions of other quiet, guiding lights, no matter how troubled and perverse the world);

• and know that God's word to us isn't understood by a person outside of faith, not until that person's heart of faith begins to know the love/Salvation we have in Jesus. (That's what the Bible says. So, try not to give a person outside of faith a Scripture that says we "go forth and jump about like calves in the stall"! The person outside of faith might not see right away, that the word isn't saying faith is restless and rambunctious, that what the word is saying is that we have inner joy in Jesus, like a new calf that's just discovering the world around him, even if we're confined to some small way of living.)

Also know that not every Bible translation is clear and accurate to God's meaning, which is why we need to study and pray about our and others' discernment of God's word. One translation says "do everything without grumbling or arguing," which means without grudges and quarrels. But the meaning is not "without dispute." "Dispute" is a word that some Bible translations mistakenly use.

And, here again, Jesus has told us how to handle disputes when we have to or need to.

When the Holy Spirit Speaks

 

When the Holy Spirit says something, we ought to hear His meaning. In Hebrews 13:5, for example, God isn't saying to be okay with not having what you've trusted Him for (Matthew 6:7-8).

Instead, He always says to be patient, even in affliction. And He says that, while waiting on Him to move,

"Be very thankful for and respectful about what you have, not wanting what someone else has" but only what Grace has given you at this time.

Hebrews 13:5

~

Just be sure never to misquote what the Spirit of the Lord has said to you! If you know it's only your own way of talking, not exactly what the Spirit has said, say I'm in agreement with Heaven but this is me talking, like the apostle Paul did.

A Bible-study Idea for Adults

  

 

 

Life is full with choices and dilemmas that keep us in need of prayer. But with prayer, choices become easier.

Some choices are easier when made shortly after being in prayer with others, like finally making peace with a decision just after leaving a church service, or days after beginning to pray for someone about a need.

But some choices also are made easier with grace. When you receive something — even the idea of something — with grace in Jesus, it's easy to receive* that something. But the Bible says if you the individual are not able to receive something in good faith, in good conscience, then that, for you, is sin. And grace may not help that sin.

When the King James Version of the Bible speaks of Heaven's "manifold grace," that means God's grace varies according to our individual relationship with Jesus. That's why, at one point as a minister, the apostle Paul made the decision to abstain from eating the meat he knew he was allowed to eat as a workman in the Lord. Paul reasoned, at least once, that it would be better to abstain, even for the rest of his life, as long as eating all that he was allowed to eat would cause a brother of weak conscience to stumble. That self-control, on Paul's part, could only strengthen Paul in faith.

Paul was one to rejoice, just like Nehemiah, that God made good our freely given sweet (like honey) and meaty foods. But Paul also was one to tell people bold truths: when people were twisting the idea of eating with grace, joy, and thanksgiving from the heart, together with thoughts of perversion or sexuality, as in Romans 1.

And Jesus, before Paul, had given stern warnings.

The truth of the matter is that anything of the life we are meant to have on this side of Heaven, can serve God's grace and glory, even if only for a season. Conversely, things of life on this side of Heaven, can be used ungodly, whether misuse is of food, or of the physical body.

It's shameful, but there are those who boldly say all things were meant for food, and that all appetites are for "God's" glory.

It's sickening, the way some feel.

But thank Heaven we can live delivered or separate from that. ... Thank you, Jesus.

And thank you, Lord, that, as Christians, we can have discernment about what's good for us, and what isn't — and can use that discernment to prepare both healthy foods and foods we realize are a little less healthy but joyful in a heavenly way.

That's because, in Jesus, we realize Heaven doesn't want bickering over food. He wants us to have fellowship, one with another, in as much as we can.

God gave Peter, the disciple, an uncommon calling — sometime after Jesus returned to the Spirit alone, or to His heavenly existence. I'm sure more than one disciple wanted to go onward to Heaven when Jesus wasn't physically present anymore. And I'm sure more than one felt convicted in Spirit, against doing anything of sin (because of a longing for Heaven, not so much because of legalistic feelings about Hebrew law).

I say that, because, in my walk in Jesus, I had so much a closeness to God's word at first, that a pastor who spoke with me personally, muttered, at one point, "too Heaven-bound to be any earthly good." I know that feeling, of being close to the Lord.

God knows that happens in the lives of some Christians. And to help bring our walk back closer to earth, for His good, Heaven may give special assignments. For example, in Peter's case, Heaven's instructions were to step away from His Hebrew understanding for at least a time, and go to fellowship, to eat meals, with Gentiles. Those (non-Hebrew) Gentiles weren't doing anything adverse to health, costly to faith, or against faith when they would eat "fourfooted beasts" (presumably, only those split-hoofed animals that ate grasses — because Heaven's morals had become part of the Christian heart — but maybe prepared in clean ways that were different than the Hebrew way), "wild beasts" (maybe chickens!), "creeping things" (maybe gators?), and birds that flew.

By grace, God gave freedom to make choices about meats He would no longer consider evil to consume for sustenance.

But being faithful, we know that can only goes so far.

Faith is a matter of living in good conscience.

~

* Dear Reader: Thank you for reading. I hope this is somehow a help to you or someone in your life. Please be patient, as I have been, wherever one of my posts may have an awkward sentence or word. I have a problem with someone hacking my posts, and I don't always realize, right away, that someone has changed something I've posted. ... God bless us, going forward.