Power of God

   Saying too much or not saying enough are both sides of the same coin, they're an after thought. The storms of life billow up in threatening clouds rain and wet misery. But the tell tale sign that severe storms were on the horizon, was shone the night before the storm with the beautiful red skies we all saw. Jesus taught, that by the beauty of a perfect Spring day, and the peace we feel by being with such beauty, we love the tranquility of gazing on such natural beauty. And that in that beauty, you see the face of God, when you look at all such natural scenery. Conversely, you see the almighty power of the Lord by observing closely the storms, earthquakes and volcanoes. The natural calamities of life. Now I love to witness the tranquil moments in life as does any man. But what I love more is watching and standing outside in the middle of, is a good thunder and lightning storm, for we see an up close glimpse of His power and majesty. 

  All knowing, all powerful, the source of energy. With the pointing of his finger and a word from his lips, mountains sway and move at His command. My wife was more a take cover and get out of the rain common sense type and would warn me to stay inside. And I did mostly so as to not have her worry. Perhaps in part I loved these storms because the really good ones where the night's landscape was lit up by the white hot wide bolts which fed the yellow fingers across the sky from horizon to horizon were awe inspiring, and loud with deep and crackling lightning that lit the skies with thunder and the rain which had not yet started in full fury. 

  The winds that accompanied the light show would sometimes blow the rain sideways in sheets. Other times the excitement of the spectacular light show were a prelude to the rain and fell heavy in fat round droplets soaking everything without cover after the lightning had stopped. One time, yellow flashes touched the ground all around, but seemed far enough away that I was not concerned by it. But then there was this time when a wide bright white flash split a tree in half which was no more than one hundred feet from where I stood. The sound of the explosion it made, caused by ears to ring for days. That one ended my career of being out among electrical storms. Made my wife happy. The lightning bolt was so powerful, and I remember tasting a metallic taste in my mouth. It scared me for sure, but also is still the awe that comes upon me whenever I visualize that moment. 

  God controls all, as He created all and controls all. Nothing on earth, or of the heavens above can explain it fully. Whether a crystal blue skied day or the savage anger of a storm fused night, all shows the power and majesty of our God.  

I'm Trying

   As Christians we are told to forgive those who have wronged us, and if that isn't enough, we are also instructed to pray for our enemies. Pray for those who hate us? It is a tall order indeed, because Love is the basis of our God, it makes sense, looking at it from His perspective. What did Father say from the cross he was nailed on? Forgive them Father for they know not what they do". If He asked of us to forgive those who persecuted Him, who are we to hold a grudge? Know also that there is power in forgiveness. Father said, Forgive them. Who is them? Them are the ones who tortured Him to the edge of death, ridiculed and mocked him, and spit on Him! All that, and yet he prays for them with his last breaths saying, Father forgive them. Extraordinary love! 

  This being the 25th year since the horrors of September 11, 2001, makes this all the more relevant. The brainwashed lunatics who carried out their orders and flew the death planes, were the disease, their leaders were the cause. Pure unadulterated evil on display, it was the god of their worship, most call him Satan. This happening of twenty five years ago is proof positive that pure evil exists, and he, is the god of all evil, he is Evil, which is a legitimate name for him. He is the god of those who today's participants were, and still are today. For any young readers out there, though you can't understand it, It, was the day that time stood still! A national lament, a sorrow and yes, an anger that is still there. Jesus has already forgiven the 9/11 horde, and I'm trying. God bless all who lost loved ones, and may God continue to bless this nation, Amen. 

The Innocence of Ignorance

   There is a distinct difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance is defined as; Lacking knowledge or experience. Innocence is to have no knowledge of, to be without guilt, harmless, without knowledge of evil. Our title simply put is that to be ignorant of a matter makes you also innocent. The Tree of the knowledge of good and evil which was in the garden of Eden found in Genesis adresses this point. You can see why being ignorant of something also means you are innocent. On the other hand, stupidity is to lack normal intelligence, to be foolish, dull and boring. Stupidity is for the most part a decision. A stupid person though at some point has been exposed to the truth of a matter through the reality of the moment. But for whatever reason, chooses to not consider it and thus, chooses to remain silly and carefree, content to learn nothing. He then by refusing knowledge is stupid by choice and therefore, is not innocent of the matter at hand whether it be a legal matter or not. There are many examples in real life that make the point by the reality of any matter more clear, and is common to all human beings. For instance, I am currently learning to read music and play piano. Having never seriously tried to learn even the basics of music I entered ignorant of the subject and so, child-like in my approach to the wonder of making music. Because I am innocent through ignorance of the matters of reading and playing music, I enter it as a child. My teacher and I had a good laugh out loud moment when I mentioned that the beginners books I'm learning from are filled with cartoon-like characters who are throughout the books highlighting certain basics of music making. A person may be a genius in other matters, but when you are trying to grasp the basics of a matter you know nothing about, you enter child-like in the innocence of your ignorance. Besides the pure joy of learning something completely new, I understood while working with the sixty six keys divided by the center note of C, that center point is what separates treble to the right of center and bass to the left.  You quickly come to realize that music is math. Besides the keyboard you use the five fingers of both hands, and for the different notes, there are designations by the look of the notes shown on the staff, and that each note is assigned a count. One count for quarter notes and up to four counts with whole notes. Again, math. 

  It is the same when you commit to learning anything new. When you first make the decision to follow Jesus to learn about the things and knowledge of God through His son, you to will begin as a child. A babe born of the Spirit you become as Jesus said, enter the Kingdom of God as a child. In other teaching Jesus told his disciples that because you are still as new babes in the family of God you will early on be fed the word in milk form. Only after grasping the basics will you be fed the solid meats, the deeper meanings of the Word. Remember, not knowing something doesn't make you stupid, it makes you innocent in your ignorance.