Turning Back the Clock

 Can we turn back the clock? 

Seems like a silly question because the answer is an obvious NO! I can only speak for myself because in my mind, I tend to turn back the clock by reminiscing about my childhood. Many memories can bring joy for a brief moment: Memories bring loved ones back to life who are no longer here with us. So many people are gone. They live within our heart and minds. I confess it brings me some kind of momentary peace to think of a memory, smile at that memory. However, there is lingering sadness that it was just a memory and nothing can bring them back. I can sit in my alone time and talk to God, and allow my mind to wander off. Having a relationship with Jesus, my Saviour, I can understand that He is the only one who truly knows all about my memories. He knows all about me and He knows all about you in the same way God knows our comings and our goings, when we rise and when we sit. He knows our thoughts from afar. He knows who I am.

Yesterday, I had the blessing of going out in a kayak with my husband. He paddled his kayak and I paddled mine. Together we created another moment in time. We put the kayaks in the water at an old swimming hole from where I lived as a child. Upon arriving, I immediately recognized the smell of the seaweed strewn along the shore. Of course, I noticed the changes to the landscape from then to present day. Today, there are newly built, big modern houses that replace the little bungalow cottages which once lined the Lake Drive road. A road that used to get so hot in the summer that the tar would melt and burn the bottom of our feet. The alternative  was peddling our bikes.

The little harbour we used to swim in, now seems less wide than it did then. Not as deep as it was when we were 10 years old and swam across the channel to reach the big wall on the other side. At that time it seemed to be a big deal to swim to the wall and back without drowning. It was a place we truly lived life and enjoyed so many freedoms. I never knew any different. To be blessed to live where I lived having all the ability to enjoy having the lake as our backyard. I could go out in a boat, swim, fish any time I wanted.  I didn't have to pay for the fun. Although my parents worked hard for us to live at a summer resort renting boats and cabins. Customers always coming and going.

Now, 50 years later, I returned the bay and had to pay for parking to put my little kayak in the water. Ding, ding another wake up call. LOL! Yesterday, I found myself turning back the clock. As I paddled over each big wave, so many memories flooded my mind. The water was choppy and rough with white caps. Back in the day, that is how we would have described the waves. As we paddled toward the weed-bed, I couldn't help but allow my mind to go back to a time when I drove that old aluminum boat with the six horsepower engine on the back. Full throttle, the boat hitting each wave while trying to keep up with my brother Terry who was driving his boat in front of me. We weaved a path through the weeds turning the boat from one turn to the next. Our hair was blowing in the wind and our faces wore a smile from ear to ear. That was one of many memories.

Paddling a kayak, the pace is somewhat slower than it was when we pounded those aluminum boats through the waves. Slower, more graceful, quiet, tranquil. Within the quietness we noticed a jungle of different birds living in that weed-bed. Everything from ducks, swallows, cranes, swans. The Lilly pads covered the calm waters with white flowers meticulously planted amongst the bright greens, water and bulrushes. It was awe inspiring. To be sure it is God's majestic hand at work.

Like a dry sponge falling into a lake, I soaked up every moment, each breath of the fresh air, the sounds and sights all around. The waves of yesterday, folding over and over, one after another like the memories within my mind. The overwhelming senses tantalized by the air, the water, wind and it's caresses. As the water dripped from my paddle down my arm and the waves dispersed it's splashes over me, I felt like I was being washed by my Father God's hand. The flood of emotions swept over me with such gratitude to God. I couldn't help but verbally praise God, tears streaming down my face, mixing with the splashes from the waves. I thanked God again and again for giving me another moment in time, to be able to revisit my childhood even if only for a couple of hours. I praised Him, feeling blessed once again to embrace the wonder of yesterday - today. A continuous roll of the waves pushed me over the water, along with the synchronized strokes of my paddle toward a place I once called home. There was a new dock waiting in place of where the old shaky dock once stood. Most years the dock had to be rebuilt every spring, by a band together of family and friends: A dock that represents many a wet footprints over the years. If a dock could talk, a book of stories could be written. A memory my mother shared with me comes to mind. She tried not to laugh as she told me the story. Oh, how bad she felt for poor Mable. Mable, was dressed in her Sunday best and her nice white hair looked so lovely as she walked along the dock. Before anyone could notice our dog walk by her and knocked Mable right off the dock by sending her right in the middle of dead fish and seaweed. I'm sure many could tell a story about that dock: The first kiss, the moonlit skinny dip,  the string of fish along with the stories told as fishermen pulled up in there boat with a full string of fish or t he story of the child saved from drowning. Chapters could be written. I have my own memories which come to my mind. There are many cherished times as children. A place where we swam for hours, diving over the white crests of the waves, throwing seaweed at each other while laughing and just having so much fun.

That being said, I was compelled to take my little kayak to that time and place once again. I tied it to a dock that was no longer my own. I got out and slipped myself into the water. For a moment I was back 50 years in time - swimming with my grandfather, who dove off that dock at the age of 89. I went under the water like one being baptized again. For a few moments in time, I was swimming with my friends, Billy and Tommy. I was swimming beside my mom and dad as they did the dog paddle. I was swimming with my brothers, sister in-laws, and cousins. Though the boats no longer sit in their stalls and bang against the dock, for a brief moment I refreshed in the waters of childhood and soaked it all in. Then I pulled myself up on this stranger's dock and got back into my little kayak, came back into this time of 2021. A time, I could never have imagined as that ten year old child. As a child, 2021 seemed like a century away. In reality within what seems like a blink of an eye, it is a half century since then. Time has changed many, many things. In reality, I can't turn back the clock. I can look ahead and enjoy this day. Even as I write this blog a day later, I cannot relive yesterday but can enjoy today. We can only hope there is a tomorrow. More important is that the times are a changing. The simplicity of then, to now, is gone. The world seems to be going down a different rabbit  hole that make less sense every day. That can be depressing if we allow ourselves to go there. 

There is a hope and future

Far beyond our imagination or our memories of the past. It is a hope that God offers to all of us. This time on earth is written like a scroll, to be read and understood. The time we are given to live on this place we call earth, is a time to get to know the Creator, the Messiah, Christ Jesus our Saviour. He is our hope for today and eternity. He calms waters and the storms of life. He wants to be in that kayak with us. This is a time to connect us to the eternal.

It makes me think about eternity and heaven. Life after this world. Not that I am so heavenly minded I am no earthly good. In reality, who does not want to have an assurance and a hope of something even more amazing to look forward to when we pass from here to there? I sure don't want to perish. God does not want any to perish but all to receive the gift He offers through the Son Jesus. The gift of eternal life for those who believe. Is it so hard to believe or receive such a gift? Not really. God has revealed his mysteries to us in so many ways (Bible). Clearly the Old Testament prophesies have been fulfilled by the Son of God, Jesus. There are some New Testament prophecies still to be fulfilled. The Return of Jesus is one. There are others. That is why I have embraced Jesus and His gift of salvation. He died for me and my sins. He took my punishment which is death. Why? So I could have life in Him. 

If I could escape for two hours yesterday and lose myself within a weed-bed and see some of God's creation on a different level, it only makes me wonder how amazing Heaven must be, how marvelous this place that Jesus said He is preparing for us who seek Him and answer His calling to follow Him there. I can only hope and pray to my Heavenly Father, that He forgives my transgressions, grants me salvation and redeems my soul, to enter into His paradise for eternity, in a place where neither rust nor moth will destroy and where no one grows old or dies anymore. I pray, He leads me in the way everlasting and beside the still waters. If those still waters I floated through yesterday are any indication take me to the river of life. Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life, and He is the gate to get entrance to that place where there is no need or want to turn back the clock. Jesus is coming back one day for those who believe. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open. May the Lord by His Holy Spirit bless you and pour out upon you and also lead you through each day. God Bless!

Click on the song below. It is beautiful. Be Blessed.

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)

 I was talking to a friend today and she mentioned a conversation that Nicodemus and Jesus had. How Jesus told him that his battle is not with Rome. It struck me quite profoundly. Because I have felt like I have been battling with my own Rome. Battling with the world and all the corruption, lies, the overwhelming changes taking place which come against Christians, against God, and against His Word, the teaching of Christ Jesus. Each day I only get more angry. So many messages and just so much sin infiltrating our daily lives. What is sin?

Sin - an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law: a sin in the eyes of God/the human capacity for sin. An act regarded as a serious or regrettable fault, offence, or omission: he committed the unforgivable sin by rejecting His plan for salvation.

The ways of the world have a tendency to draw us toward sinful behavior, away from what God instructed His people from the very beginning of Creation. After the fall of Adam and Eve, their sinful choice of disobedience and pride, birth was given to a sin nature which has gripped humanity with what is called the flesh. (Ephesians 2:2,3 "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts.")

We tend to be drawn by many worldly desires. Daily we are being bombarded from every direction.

For centuries since Satan tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, Satan continues to use temptation to fight God, as he also tempted Jesus and using the same tactics and temptations on us today. We can learn from how Jesus responded using the same weapon that Satan the devil used to tempt Jesus. Jesus used the sword of God's Word to rebuke the devil.

Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness

Matthew 4

4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

and they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’[c]”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[d]”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’[e]”

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

It goes against the answer Jesus gave back to him in verse 4,7,10. "

There are many instances where Jesus instructed us to pray and not fall into temptation. Jesus knows the battle that we would have to fight for generations to come. The battle against a worthy adversary, who seems to exist and has been allowed to run a muck throughout this earth with the sole purpose of destroying our souls. His weapon is mostly the lies he tells us as to kill our lives, destroy our faith in the one who can give eternal life. There are reasons why Jesus tells us:

Matthew 38 "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

All this being said, there are many things which can consume our thoughts, and they influence our actions good or bad. I have felt myself slowing changing from a fairly mild and meek, person into a ravenous lion at times. I have felt the anger in me grow like a fire out of control at times. You know how a fire burns nice and steady with a flickering flame and then when gas is thrown on it, it turns into a blazing bush fire. In the time since Covid began like a slow fade I began to lose the inspired passion that used to shine in my eyes. The joy of life at times felt quenched. It reminds me of a glass of pop with a little sip left at the bottom. The glass never made it back into the dish-water for a cleansing. So it sat on that forgotten shelf and the pop turned hard and stuck to the bottom of the cup.

Today, when that friend prayed for me, I was like a ripe old prune shriveling and ready to fall off the branch. From time to time in the past year, my prayers had been a spontaneous reaction to whatever the need. God does not leave us even when leave Him our of our life equation.  However, we may reap the consequence of what we sow. Suddenly, her prayer was watering that prune. As she prayed, I realized that everything I have been doing and saying was my way of venting or fighting the battle without God's Spirit leading me on. I was taking years of bottled up emotions, anger, rejections and turning them into a method of releasing all my frustrations onto an open forum for the world to read. Thinking that I needed to be the world's Savior trying to be the one warrior who would speak up when everyone else seemed so silent and uninterested in what is going on. The lie had become my truth. The truth is, I am not Jesus, and I am no one's Savior.  I could never be that. There is truly only one Savior and He is Jesus Christ. That is my truth. Truth without love is no truth. Truth that is mean, arrogant or without grace or mercy is no truth. Truth is Christ. He is the Way the Truth and the Life. Truth sets us free when we pray to him and lay all our burdens down at his feet. Truth helps us to help others pick up that cross when they are too weak to pick it up themselves. It is okay to be a lion if the Lord is the one holding onto your mane. The lion of Judah, in me, speaking by the Spirit and glorifying God in whatever we do. Sadly, in my attempt to speak an opinion whether right or wrong it is how you speak and that is why many Christian's keep a reign on their own tongue.

The message of this world is all about speaking your truth. Many who have read my posts would say, my truth is not their truth. The danger in any one of us giving such power to our truth is that it may not be God's truth. That is a dangerous mountain to fall off of. It is a hard climb back up that mountain. That is my Rome and that is my battle.

 

What Rome are you fighting? I don't think I am the only one in a battle of some sort. Solomon said in Ecclesiastics  there is A Time for Everything- https://classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ecclesiastes 3:1-8 

Someone has to fight the fight. This is true. We can't be fighting the battles that belong to the Lord. We can only shine His light and speak when He directs us to do so. In the process of a Spiritual battle it is best to have an army of prayer warriors behind you. No weapon formed against you will prosper.  Any battles done in the Bible had God's army along side and God was the Commander and Chief. We should not expect help from God when the war is not ours to fight as much as it is God's battle to win. It is easy to forget that God is in control. God is all powerful. God has a plan far beyond what my feeble little mind can even comprehend. I have been like Nicodemus, a Pharisee. He knew the Jewish rulings and council and Old Testament teachings yet he never truly understood the fulfillment of the Scriptures when Christ Jesus sat right in front of him having a conversation with him.

It was no coincidence that Jesus met with him and began to teach him about the Kingdom of God which is far greater than the Roman Empire. So, the scales I have been wearing on my eyes for the last little while are slowly being removed. Like Nicodemus I am familiar with the scriptures. Knowing them is one thing, but even the devil knows the scriptures. Living them is another thing. So many times, I have been reminded over the last couple of years that our battle is not against flesh and blood, it is against the powers of darkness. But I put that scripture on the back shelf, so to speak.

The Bible reference I am talking about is from the book of Ephesians. 6:10 ("Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.")

Seems like the message below is more applicable to everything I have just spoken of. If it does not speak to anyone else, it surely speaks to me. I am convicted.

Instructions for Christian Living

17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

MAY GOD FORGIVE ME AND MAY ALL THOSE WHO I OFFENDED FORGIVE ME ALSO.

So, summing up my long awaited blog. Let us contemplate the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus. Because this is a conversation Jesus is having to all of us also.

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

John 3 - New International Version

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]

9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Biblegateway.com

Our Father who is in Heaven, Holy is your Name. Let you Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass (sin) against us. Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil. For Yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Thank you for your grace and mercy and the forgiveness of my sins through your Son's death the redemption (the action of saving us from the penalty of our sin, error, evil ways, and for giving us the opportunity to have life eternal when we deserve the penalty for our sins (death). “in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,—in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:13-14‬ ‭ASV‬‬

You died to give life paying the penalty for those who repent and believe. Praise be to Jesus. Amen!

Obituary

"The Dominion of Canada was officially born on July 1, 1867. Until 1982, July 1 was celebrated as "Dominion Day" to commemorate the day that Canada became a self-governing Dominion. Today it is officially known as Canada Day."

It is with deep sadness that we say goodbye to her. Born in 1867, she lived a wonderful life for generations. She possessed the qualities of the new world - a world that flowed with milk and honey. Adorned with the greenery of the tall pines of British Columbia, her jewelry box always full. Her dresses were made of the magnificent blues with shades of the Great Lakes, small lakes, mixed in about the colours of the Canadian Shield. She made her dresses from resources found within the mountains of splendor from Alberta and British Columbia. Her hair dances like the wheat fields of the Grande Prairies.

She spent many years sharing generously. Many families immigrated, to live on her homestead. Young men went to battle against the evils in past world wars to prevent those whom would try to harm this free, dear lady of peace, love and beauty. They would not allow others to come and steal away her riches. The yarns she weaved, spread out like a carpet draped across her body to be shared and traded for the world to enjoy.

Others desired all she had to offer. They would come from far and wide, from one country to the next. Every race and creed, journeyed across oceans in their quest to enjoy her beauty and the freedoms she offered. Sadly, many died in the battles. Gallant Men raised their weapons. Some worked, building the railroads while others built big cities.

Sicknesses also took the lives of many early settlers who came to her land. For a century, many have enjoyed the sacrifices of those long gone. The flag stood tall in remembrance and an anthem of song sung in unity, a prayer for her, 'God keep our land glorious and free. We stand on guard for thee.' This land, she shared with all, from her early native settlers who for generations lived off her bounty.

Time would tell the rest of her story. The infrastructure grew and covered her land. Over time, the people who dwelled on her land slowly took all she had given them for granted. They forgot the hardships which the first early pioneers endured to reach those destinations and build a homestead - forgetting the tyranny many of them fled from to come and stay in her land.

The ebbs within time, took it's toll on her beauty as she aged. The citizens who once took great care and patriotism, slowly fell asleep in the cooking pot of socialism,  "(in Marxist theory) a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of communism." chiseling away her freedoms like a disease, afflicting years of character. She lived a good life. However, today she has past and no one stood by her bedside, or fought for her freedoms. Thus she died of neglect and a broken heart. The anthem is no longer adhered to. The flag sits frayed and faded, half staff.

Sadly we say good by to this beautiful Canada. The land once flowing with milk and honey. She began her journey raised on Christian values. Now her churches are chained, closed and fenced. Lines of draught now cover her once beautiful face as she awaits the grave. A remnant of patriots try to fight. The powers of a totalitarian government hold the future in their hands.

Challenges of the past years can still turn back to victory. Will an army rise to defend her once again to sing together in unity an anthem to keep the garments of rights and freedoms. Remember the dead and live again. Raise her from the grave, for all to enjoy for centuries to come. 

Explosion of Thoughts

Christian music is playing in the background songs with messages of salvation - Jesus, hope, and songs with prayers. I think, now would be a great time for prayer. The other day was Bell let's talk day. A day when people can talk about their mental health issues. Why do they call it that? For most people it is depression. Why are so many people depressed? There are many reasons. Sometimes, it would seem there is no reason at all. or an unbalance of chemicals in the brain?? For me, depression feels like a dormant lump that sits in the pit of my stomach. There are triggers or certain keys that unlock that door awakening the monster of emotions.

Simply, I believe people really do need to talk and not once a year. Even more, is the need for someone to listen and truly care. We live in a time that suppresses free speech. If you do say what you really think, the verbal backlash comes like a pack of starving wolves waiting to devour it's prey. I heard that depression is really bottled up anger suppressed. Bottled up anger from a lifetime of rejection, grief, loss, confinement of some sort, loneliness, hurt, insecurity, emotional or physical abuse. I'm sure the list of reasons go on and on.

We live in a digital age of computer APPs, TO GENERATE A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so many others. People don't talk to one another anymore and if they do, they haven't learned the art of listening. What would the answer be if we asked ourselves, 'who did I talk to today person to person?' The answer may be, no one. We live in an age of thumbs up, happy faces, angry faces, rolling eyes and sometimes a little dialogue on messenger. Problem with that is, it is so easy to say things you would not say to a person if they were face-to-face. There is so much room for misinterpretation. Not all dialogue goes in the right direction. These platforms offer little substance of truth. A person may have three hundred Facebook friends and even family members, yet on a day when they are feeling like dying, there is not one of them he/she would reach out to for help or conversation. I wonder why? Perhaps it is fear? Not wanting to bother someone or look weak? Heaven forbid we don't have it all together especially if you claim to be a Christian. or Is it that we don't think anyone cares or would understand? 

It is true that with so many changes going on in the world, there is so much division. It would seem there is either one way or another. It is difficult to find the middle ground. There is little bending of the branches. This is a sad reality of how the sign of the times has changed the true meaning of relationships. I find most people ignore you, snooze you, or even delete you from their Facebook because what you post offends them. They realize by what you post, you really have little in common. Your views are totally opposite. At a click of the button you are erased.

For a virtual computer game that would be normal. The new normal is not normal and the old normal already had many flaws. Behind the click on the keypad is a real person. Someone you may have once shared a wonderful real friendship. Others may be acquaintances, people you may have met in public school but you don't know anything more about them than, that they sat in the desk beside you during history class fifty years ago. One can even scroll through comments and find a new friendship with a complete stranger who thinks just like you do. A soul mate from another dimension? Zoom relationships, face times are now means of trying to regain a connection during these times of lockdowns. For someone like me, there is still something unnatural about it. From beginning of time - to it's end, the human race has needed person - person conversation, not virtual hugs and prayers. People need to feel connected, loved, valued, appreciated and heard. People need purpose. Just that one thumbs up can be enough encouragement to help that person live through another day.

The days of looking in someone's eyes as they tell a story or notice a smile light up a face in response to something silly they said, is fading away like an old black and white movie coming to an end. Up come the credits with a crescendo and the words, 'The End'. We miss out on each other's quirkiness and the essence of real connection easily gets lost in cyberspace along with the translation. In a new era of computer generated relationships. iPhones can take pictures that makes you look like a professional photographer. With a tap of the finger, I can easily photo shop a new face in place of the aging one staring back at me in the mirror each morning. Not that it matters what we look like because everyone has their faces masked now. I often smile at someone in a store, but then realize they can't see my smile. The fake smile hidden behind the mask when you really want to rip it off you face and breathe. Then echoing in in the background noise are the people who just disregard how you might feel and say things, like, "don't be selfish and where the . . . mask."

A year of lockdowns does not help build real relationships. It does the opposite. People scroll through the pages staring at a little black device watching one video after another or reading everyone's comments. Relationships become public entertainment for the world to hear your thoughts. They interpret them however they perceive them. Reply and attack. Everyone has an opinion and the world in all it's craziness leads one to conclude the world will end soon in one way or another. People get drawn in, caught by a collage of thoughts and believe everything they hear on whichever spectrum of the pendulum they lean toward. Other's can't handle the stress of politicized debates between the two. They would be the ones to post a song with a message asking "Where is the love?" Or a funny video or a picture of Buda eating cheese cake. One side thinks they know truth and if you have another view, you are a conspiracy theorist or in a cult. Do those so called conspiracy theories have more truth in them than what is heard on the daily regurgitated news? Some say yes and others laugh and mock.  Just another reason to put you down. Everyday we hear the same Covid -19 numbers, fears, mandates controlling our lives. It is more like counting straws after you drop a box on the floor and count them as you pick them up, day after day for more than 365 days. If you count them enough times, you believe the sky is purple and not blue. Soon it won't matter because they are banning plastic straws so the world can be greener. The world is spinning out of control, drifting into a new galaxy of insanity and who can keep up? So, what day is it anyway, because I don't even know anymore. Every day is the same as the one before. Like a bad rerun. 

Just shoot me. Pass the euthanasia bill again so on a bad day, people can take the easy exit. (Not)  Debbie downer or am I the new Karen who appears to have lost all sight of  any good, overwhelmed by the bad? The joke of the day? I can't find the love or the joy of self. It appears, I only help to fuel the same foreboding emotions to others. In doing so they also only see my lack of empathy, love, joy and the Spirit that once enveloped me. Yes, it is easy to see the change in someone and even easier to add to an already wounded spirit. It is about now I would write a sermon and some scripture to raise others out of this kind of thinking. It is easy to speak the words of all wisdom from the Bible to others. Easy to preach to the congregation. How can I do that unless I preach it to myself first. Seek God on bended knees and cry out to Him for help like I have done so many times in my life. He is the lifeline. NO One else can make a person take hold of that lifeline. It is something we each have to do for ourselves. 

Last Saturday, I laid on the couch with a blanket and all I wanted is for God to take me away. I wanted to die. That is the truth. I have experienced suicides in my family, friends, and neighbors. There have been times, I related a little to the absolute feeling of such darkness. There are actually many reasons. That Saturday, all I wanted was to die as I asked God to take me. Then, one little ding on my iPhone awoke me from my slumber. A message with an attached picture of an adorable smiling face. One of our little blessings, David, our third grandchild. Attached was a message from my daughter with a love icon and an interest in what I was doing? I knew my state of mind was not good. I wasn't going to call her, but I did. I poured out my heart and as I did, it slowly began to melt once again from the ice cold stone it had become.  Days later I know, I don't really want to die. Like many we just want that feeling of sadness to go away.

So, to those who feel insulted by my opposing views. I'm sorry. We all have to care more about what God thinks. What God thinks is more important than what other people think. I'm working on it too. It is my prayer that all who suffer with these same problems - emotionally, physically, will seek God who is truly the only one who can light a fire in us, rekindle an old flame. I pray He does exactly that. Light a fire of love, compassion, empathy, care, understanding and His wisdom. "His" name is Jesus. Our only Savior, healer, redeemer, our righteousness full of Grace and Mercy. He is the God of all understanding and Love. He knows our every thought and burden. He can transform the darkest blot into a wonderful display of light. That is my bell let's talk moment. I have to wonder, how many read to the end? Next year, we will talk again on the next Bell let's talk. I'll email you.

Until then pray for me as we pray for one another. Amen

Here is to 2021

 Happy New Year

I told my Facebook friends I would post one of my blogs rather than one of the regular posts which I have shared throughout the year of 2020. Many of which fueled a lot of anger within myself and others. Many of the posts meant to be informative. However, to some people, they are controversial topics or conspiracy theories. To me they hold a lot more truth than the regular televised news casts. All of 2020 makes one thing clear, we all have a lot more praying to do. We sure do need God’s help.

I looked at my BlogSpot website the other day and was surprised to notice that I haven’t written a blog since 2019. Now, that the year of 2020, along with all of the upheaval in our lives has ended, we look forward to 2021 while holding on to a glimmer of hope for better things to come. 2020 is somewhat of a blur or a blip which erased a year of many lives. For some people it is an ink blot in the obituary section of the news paper, representing each of those who lost their lives to Covid 19 and other causes of death. Another life lost amongst the numbers given out on the daily broadcast.  The picture we see is that of a flawed healthcare system, worldwide. 

For my family, the year of 2020 came in like a lamb as God gifted us with our third grandchild, David. Many days he spread sunshine into our home, through the daily pictures my daughter sent me through text message, along with the videos and pictures of our other two rays of sunshine, Lucas and James.  Sunshine that many times got me through the dark days of lockdown in the early spring. We thank God for the many blessings we do have even when there are other trials, worries and fears which try to steal our joy.

The year 2020, was a year of changes which have brought with it much fear, death, pain, loneliness, uprisings, rebellion, controls, restrictions, anger, division, addictions, poverty, strife, times of insanity, and so many other emotions and thoughts. The Lord Jesus told us to lay all our burdens at his feet and that He will carry us, walk with us through the storms of life when we trust in Him.  

Truly, it was a year many are happy to see end. Many of us have found ourselves tested in ways we never imagined could happen. There are some charitable stories of people who have shown a better side of humanity. The long days and months apart from loved ones, tore at our heart strings. 

Businesses shut down, lockdowns, wearing masks, as our freedoms were taken away. People suffered mistreatment and discrimination because they did not comply to wearing a mask even though they had their reasons and rights. This became the new normal. But is it really normal at all? Some accepted such abuses of power by police and even applauded them. Others snitched on someone, maybe a neighbor or a kid skating on a pond.  who didn't  comply to mandates. A troublesome growing reoccurrence. Even still, many comply while others, say enough, to these suffocating restrictions and mandates as they lose their lively-hood. Two camps who can't compromise or see the other side. 

The world changed in a flash. Life as we knew it crumbled. A different kind of world war began. It started with a war against a virus. Over time it turned into a war between people, friends, families as some fought for the freedoms being taken away. A new kind of intolerance happened to people. At first everyone was all working together against this virus. Then as the months dragged on and the tides began to shift, taking many people spiraling down into some void of darkness, we in North America, have not had to experience before. At least not since the early century world wars.  Even for people who seem to have all the answers with their word speak, deep down, they too find themselves flailing from within the deepness of depression, trying to find their way back to some normality. 2020 has left us with so much distrust, not knowing what is true and what is not. The devil is always in the details. Now we enter a new year 2021.  Usually it would be a time to sing, Auld lang syne.

I didn’t sing that song this New Years Eve. I felt more like singing "Bye by American Pie" I was not surrounded by family or friends, holding hands nor taking a sip of champagne. I was in bed as I heard this muffled voice from my husband coming through the cracks in the floor boards. “Happy New Year.”

I replied with a tone of little excitement, “Happy New Year”. 2020 is over and another year gone. I turned off the light and went to sleep. 

For many years, this song has been sung at New Year celebrations, I imagine many of us never knew the meaning of the words we sung. It always had a melancholic tone that brought a tear to the eye. It was not originally written in English. Translated literally it means “old long since,” but the meaning is more like “old times” or “the olden days “Should ole acquaintances be forgot and never brought to mind? It asks a question. Of course the answer is, we should not forget all those who are no longer here.  ‘We drink a cup of kindness dear and sing of ole lang syne (the olden days). Song written by Robert Burns also known as Rabbie Burns, born in Scotland 1759.

Just maybe it is the right time to sing this song if there ever was a time to sing it. As we flip through the calendar year when most of us didn't have a clue what day it was because every day became the same. We take a moment of reflection to remember the great things that happened, what we have learned and just for a moment forget all the crap. Think of your loved ones you can still hold and hug or talk to on the iPhone. Just for a few moments "sing, sing a song, make it simple to last the whole night long.  Don't worry if it's not good enough for anyone else to hear. Just sing." by Karen Carpenter. 

Think of all the rest of 2020 as fully past and gone, days of old long since. For tomorrow is a new day on a new calendar year. "May God Bless you each and everyone." Tiny Tim or you could always tip toe through the tulips of spring. Even better, Let us all pray for this country and ask God to keep our Land Glorious and Free. 

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And days of auld lang syne?

And days of auld lang syne, my dear,

And days of auld lang syne.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And days of auld lang syne?"

Onward we go into 2021  

Sounds of silence

The summer flew by as quickly as a snowbird jet on it's way to the CNE air show. The months of summer had moments of heat and sweat, dead grass and well, just the daily things of life which come and go. The politics, election issues and an election were on the minds of some of us. Every season has it changes from one to the next. That being said, I witnessed the last red leaf fall from the enormous Maple tree in my front yard. Larry the leaf gently fluttered like a butterfly landing to join all his friends on the ground. The pool is closed and the ice sits on top of the cover like it is waiting for a hockey game. The season of fall turned into early winter as the snow fell way too soon. We say goodbye to yesterday yet with hope and faith, we pray for the tomorrows to come.

The world seems to be in upheaval as so many changes occur on a daily basis. I can't keep up with the technology. I imagine my mother must have felt this way years ago when the dial-up internet began. Too many apps to download, don't know how don't want to know-how. It all exhausts me to try.   Flipping to the next page of my calendar to the next month, the thoughts of this over-thinker exploded again. Snap, crackle, pop, Rice Krispies. Christmas is only a month away.

The clock never stops ticking unless there is a power outage. It would be nice if we never lost that time. Truth is the sun sets and hopefully rises again. We live our lives in the same way we breathe. Like we have billions more breaths to take. Instead of being thankful that our feet get to touch the floor one more time, or realize we get to hear one more love song on the radio, pour one more cup of coffee for our loved one, we act like robots doing the same routine. It becomes so obvious to me that many of us are simply stuck in a cyber system of technology and in the digression of the human race are becoming very robotic. Sit and watch a movie on television if you don't have Netflix and watch the same commercials over and over again ten-twenty times. If that is not being transformed into brainwashed, time-wasting robots, I don't know what is.

I ask myself, why do we do this? Are we so bored or lazy or are we simply seeking to fill some empty void with garbage? Whether we spend hours on facebook looking for some gratification, some kind of human connect or texting to people rather than phoning them, it all really just shows a changing human race controlled by cyber technology which gives false gratification. I am not a phone person. Go figure, I would rather write. So it is definitely easier to text message and fall into that trap. Can't say I get together with friends very often. Possibly that draws me and maybe you to twitter, facebook - like water draws a horse to the trough.

When I think about the last year, I can't help but notice the great disconnect between people. We see it as we scroll through the Facebook news feeds. People crying out for some kind of love, recognition, one more like one more love heart, one more smiley face. Months can go by and we never talk to those who are closest to us. The more time that passes, the wider the disconnect. Where does this lead? When does this get better? Or Does it get better? The longer we slide down that slippery slope, the steeper the decline. Then we find ourselves sitting on the roadside, sitting in the dumpster of denial. Lost in the garbage, thrown out like yesterday's leftovers. Sounds a little negative, I know.  When we examine these truths we will discover that disconnect. Haven't we all done it?  Sat in the same room with someone and both people looking at their iPhones while they scroll. People are sitting in the same room but they are not present. The sad realization of the message being conveyed is that your newsfeed is more important than the person beside you. This might be a good time to take an inventory of life. Your life. Your family's life. How can we climb out of that dumpster of denial long enough to clean the stench off of our own clothing and smell the rose sitting beside us? Time to appreciate the sunsets and the sunrises in our lives and share it with each other.

Passover

As we are coming up to the season of Spring and with Spring many people celebrate Easter, which is really a pagan word to distort or take away from the original celebration of Passover which took place in the early ages, reported in the book of Exodus (Old Testament Scripture) which gives the account of the Passover. You can read this below.


Exodus 12

The Passover

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ² “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. ³ Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. ⁴ And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, ⁶ and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.<sup>[a]

7</sup> “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. ⁸ They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. ¹⁰ And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. ¹¹ In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. ¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. ¹³ The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. ¹⁵ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. ¹⁷ And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. ¹⁸ In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ¹⁹ For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. ²² Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. ²³ For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. ²⁴ You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. ²⁵ And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. ²⁶ And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

²⁸ Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.”

                 Now we live in a modern era. If I had to guess, I would say a small percent of the world population still remember the original intent of the Passover. Some Jewish people still celebrate the original Old Testament observance of this statute. (Observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever). They would do this if they did not read the New Testament. Evangelical Christians study the Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures, and in doing so, have followed the lineage of Christ from beginning of the Bible to the end of the Book of Revelation.  We see the importance of continuing to observe this significant time in history as it relates with the Biblical New Testament teachings of Jesus Christ.             

As Christians we have been liberated from fulfilling all the laws written within the Torah, first five books of the Bible. This is only because the promised Saviour, King, Messiah has come in the flesh and fulfilled the requirement of those laws. The Perfect Lamb of God. That being Jesus Christ. He came as the example of the perfect lamb being the only one who could die to take away the sins of the world. His prophesied death and resurrection completed and fulfilled all the laws which man could not keep. I must also say, that Jesus left us with two laws to fulfill 

“Matthew 22 ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

In essence all the old laws are wrapped up in these two commands. If you can keep these two commands, then you are fulfilling all the others. We know that we are just as incapable of always fulfilling these laws to the full extent as much as the Israelites could not keep all the OT laws. That is why Christ Jesus (lamb) died for our transgressions.

                
For some it is a nice story. To some it is meaningless. In this world we live in, some would say, “What does this matter now?” I am saddened to look around me and see many of my loved ones who live oblivious to what the Bible (God’s Word) says. There just does not seem to be much interest to know these truths. How often can we sit down and talk about the Bible without arguing? Because I study His word on a regular basis over the last thirty years, since giving my life to Christ. (Not that my life was my own. It always belonged to Him who created me). At one point in my life the message clicked and I realized that I am a sinner and was dead in my sins. Yes, I always believed in God. But never had a relationship with God the Son “Jesus”. One day sitting in a church service and hearing the sermon from the Bible, I realized I was not truly saved. The message never went from my head to my heart. That day it did. I asked forgiveness of my sins and became born again in my spirit.

Yesterday, I was walking out back behind our home. A vast couple of hundred acres of nothing but quiet, serenity and beauty for me to behold. Blue skies, ponds, white fluffy clouds, trees. As always, when I go to that place away from all the distractions, the noise, I can take a breath of fresh air. His air. A time of just God and me. That is relationship. I can’t help but praise HIM. And then just be silent before HIM. I wonder how many of us today can actually do this? Don’t most people fill their days with all kinds of things to do? I confess, many days I am too busy (being under satan’s yoke). How many of us never give God a thought, never ever learn that this life is temporal and it is really just a short time and then what? We live for today and not for eternity. Because I know what the Word of God says, I have learned that God is love, God is also a God of wrath and He will one day judge each one of us as he judged the Egyptians. The Egyptians had kept the Israelites in bondage, working them as slaves for hundreds of years. God said, “Let my people go”. The Egyptians were full of pride and they worshipped their own gods and rejected the one true God. The blood the Israelites had to put on the door posts was so important. The obedience they showed was of great importance. If they did not put the blood over the door posts, their first born sons would have died too. Was that God’s fault? No! It would have been their own fault. They did obey God and their sons were saved, but the Egyptians first born sons died. Very sad indeed. Can you imagine?

               
 I say this to show that God is God and He does not change. God in His great love never gave up on the people (all of us to whom He gave that same free will to choose). God’s love for us came at a great price. (Not money). God coming in the flesh as a human/God to once again use the Passover week, as the exact time of Christ’s death on the cross. His shed blood (Lamb of God). It was a brutal death in every way imaginable. Yet, we have closed our eyes and our hearts and minds to the Greatest Gift that God has given to us. HIS SON, the forgiveness of sins and the opportunity to choose Him and receive eternal life rather than death.  This coming Easter, maybe we can all think just a little more about God/Jesus dying on the cross. Think about the thorns on HIS head and the blood and sweat dripping into his eyes. Think about the four inch spikes through His hands and feet. Oh, you got a sliver. Wow! That must have hurt. Next time drive a spike through your hand. Then hang on a cross naked in front of the mocking crowd. Think for a minute, would you do that for your worst enemy? Would you do that for someone spitting on you or punching you in the face and laughing at you? Would you do that for someone who puts sour wine to your lips when you are so dehydrated you couldn’t spit because of the lack of blood which drained from your body? I think not. I think most of us have a hard time forgiving a loved one because they offended us on facebook. Jesus was not like us. He is God and loves us and wants none to perish or go to eternal destruction. No, God loved us so much He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. We today, have a choice. We can choose to follow that ONE Jesus who endured the Cross and in His dying breath said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

                
My friends and family, it is not always easy to follow Jesus. It is easy to say, I believe and it is easy to post some scripture or a song and maybe once in a while when we really feel like or when we need God’s help, say a little prayer. The more I study the Word of God, the more I realize the need to sacrifice more things in my life to follow Jesus. But they don’t compare to what God sacrificed. I don’t sacrifice out of fear of the Lord, although the Word says that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.” I sacrifice little really. What I do for God is out of Love and admiration. If anyone deserves my admiration and love, it is Jesus Christ. What a great time to remember what Jesus did for each one of us. Many of you may not go to church for Good Friday Service or Resurrection Sunday. I know, it is hard to give up a couple hours of your weekend when you work all week.  I realize that going to church does not make you a Christian any more than driving a Honda into a garage makes it a Porsche. When we don’t go, we miss out on capturing the magnitude of what Christ did and what was accomplished by His death on the cross. We miss out on experiencing the depth of His love and also the fellowship of other believers. Most of all we miss out on worshipping and giving thanks to the One who deserves all Honour Glory and Praise. Our Saviour Jesus the Messiah. (Christ)

Luke 22:1 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Plot to Kill Jesus

“22 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.”

As you read through the New Testament of the Bible you will learn the full account from Passover through to the death of Jesus and His resurrection, teachings of Jesus, and disciples.