The rest of the wondering world of humans has truly cause to shake their heads.
It is Thanksgiving in America with its annual unseemly, avaricious rush to the malls.
2013 topped last year for its madness when ONLY one security guard was trampled to death and ONLY several arrests were made for shop-lifting and assault.
This year, when the frenzy had finally expended itself, three people had been shot, a police officer sent to hospital, two or three shoppers had been subdued with pepper spray and numerous arrests made for assault and battery in Wal-Mart stores.
I ask myself, as do millions from other nations, how this:
Could turn into this:
God knows, and I think somewhere in the Bible He has given US the answer.
Jubilate.
Ian
And what may we ask is a TETRAD?
It is the term given when there are four consecutive total eclipses of the moon. They are called "Blood Moons"
Next year they will coincide with each of Israel's four major Feast Days.
There have only been seven of these events since Yeshua. (You remember that He was crucified on a "Blood Moon" cycle.)
There was a blood moon in 1948 when Israel declared itself to be "A nation among the nations" and also one in 1967 when the Jews took control of the Temple Mount and proclaimed Jerusalem to be their new capital.
There have been none since.
Now excitement (and a degree of anxiety) is building among orthodox Jewish believers that a "big event" is imminent. Maybe the arrival of the Messiah!
I seem to recall that Jesus mentioned a "Blood Moon" being one of the chief signs that would presage His return to Earth.
This year, when we pray "Thy Kingdom Come", could it mean that the greatest event in history is about to take place?
Go ahead and work on your calendar for 2014 BUT be prepared for a sudden interruption in your plans.
Jubilate.
Ian
Last week introduced a cascade of emergencies and S.O.S calls.
Three of these included young people in crisis.
Two I have known since they were born. All are in our city.
One of them is riddled with cancer and he is not expected to live out the year.
The other, involved in a high profile christian band, went through an operation to remove a tumor from his knee and to replace the bone in his lower leg.
Then Pauline returned home to tell me that the daughter of her tennis partner is on a suicide alert. She is starving herself to death with extreme anorexia. She is not yet seventeen.
By Friday I was truly feeling the burden and the weight of these situations on my heart.
All these precious young people and seemingly no answers.
Then I remembered the words of David in the Psalms:
"When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I."
Thanks be to God, through prayer, Pauline and I were able to get a different elevation and a new perspective on things.
We still didn't have any easy answers but we had the assurance of peace in our hearts from the One who does.
This week promises to be better; a lot better.
Jubilate.
Ian
