3days and 3 nights Best explained by Blueletterbible

Christ : The Three Days and the Three Nights For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40) If Matthew 12:40 literally means three days and three nights then the crucifixion cannot be on Friday. Some say rather than a literal three days it is an old idiom referring to the two days prior to the day being spoken of. We have found nothing to substantiate this view. The Friday crucifixion is the most widely held view due to the traditional celebration of Easter. Did the crucifixion actually take place on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday? In order to make the most informed estimate, we need to examine the Sabbath. The original Hebrew word "Shabbath" is defined as: an intermission, the day of rest, the holy seventh day; a week (Leviticus 23:15 [cf. Deuteronomy 16:9; Matthew 28:1]), the sacred seventh year, a sabbatical year. Leviticus 23:1-4 lets us know about the "weekly sabbath," that day set aside each week to honor the Lord. Verse three defines how a sabbath is to be observed, i.e., "...but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings." However, these are NOT the only sabbaths. Besides the weekly sabbaths there are the High Sabbaths related to the Hebrew Feasts (or Festivals), described in Leviticus 23:4-44. These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work. (Leviticus 23:4-8) For example, the verses above speak of two feasts, Passover and Unleavened Bread. Passover starts on the 14th day of Nisan (Hebrew month) and lasts one day. The Feast of Unleavened Bread starts the next day (i.e., the 15th of Nisan) and lasts for seven days. Please note, the Passover is not a High Sabbath day, this important fact is often overlooked. You can tell because the usual command for a sabbath of "an holy convocation and no servile work is to be done," is not given for Passover. So while Passover is a feast day, it is not a sabbath day. "Why is that important?" you ask. It was on this day Jesus did the work of redemption. Servile work would have been unlawful on a Sabbath day, so God ordained for this day to be a festival, remembering the lamb's blood that caused the angel to "Passover" the Israelites in Egypt and pointing to the Lamb who would shed His blood for all mankind. One other important feast day is not a High Sabbath day, the Feast of First Fruits. Interestingly enough, this is the day of Jesus' resurrection. The Lord set forth two sabbath days each for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles. Leviticus 23:7-8 tells us that both the first and seventh (last) day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is an holy convocation and to do no servile work therein. Leviticus 23:35-36 states the same for the Feast of Tabernacles. As you go through the remaining feasts you will see the same instruction. Next we need to examine what Jesus said regarding His death. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40 NKJV) (Just a side note: for those who say the story of Jonah is untrue and just a legend—it appears that Jesus doesn't agree with them!) Jesus said three days and three nights. There is absolutely no way to get three days and three nights from Friday to Sunday. The chart below shows this, remember a Jewish day starts at sunset rather than midnight. Day 1 = Friday before Sunset Night 1 = Friday sunset - Saturday sunrise Day 2 = Saturday sunrise - Saturday sunset Night 2 = Saturday sunset - Sunday sunrise Day 3 = Sunday sunrise - resurrection Assuming Jesus rose from the dead AFTER sunrise on Sunday, which is not stated as such in the Scriptures (the Scriptures merely state that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb right after sunrise), there still are only two nights. There is no way to get three nights in this scenario. To dogmatically choose this position of crucifixion on Friday and Resurrection on Sunday is to choose a position contrary to Jesus' own prophecy. Another Scripture to consider is John 12:1, "Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany...". Jesus was travelling from Jericho. If the crucifixion took place on Friday (which had to also be Passover), then this journey took place on the sabbath. Travelling that distance on the sabbath was legally out of the question for a devout Jew. What if the crucifixion took place on Thursday? This would certainly add the additional night we need to fulfill Jesus' prophecy, but it raises a problem with the days because you have to count partial days for either the crucifixion or resurrection, but not for both. The partial days problem can be argued successfully but not conclusively because, as stated earlier, all we are told about the resurrection is that Jesus arose on the day after the weekly sabbath. This could be anytime from Saturday just after sunset to the point where Mary Magdalene saw Him, after sunrise. Proponents of a Thursday crucifixion might argue counting a partial day for Thursday (the crucifixion), a day for Friday, a day for Saturday (day) and that Jesus arose just after sunset at the beginning of the fourth day which would not be counted. In addition, there would be three full nights in between as well. So Thursday can be argued from the Scriptures. It is possible to argue for a Wednesday crucifixion if you don't count partial days (i.e. knowing that Jesus died at 3:00 p.m., you don't count the three hours of Wednesday as a full 12 hour day). The scenario would be as follows: Day 0 = Wednesday 3:00pm - sunset Night 1 = Wednesday sunset - Thursday sunrise Day 1 = Thursday sunrise - Thursday sunset Night 2 = Thursday sunset - Friday sunrise Day 2 = Friday sunrise - Friday sunset Night 3 = Friday sunset - Saturday sunrise Day 3 = Saturday sunrise - Saturday sunset In this view, Jesus is resurrected sometime between sunset on Saturday and sunrise on Sunday, which would be a partial night and therefore not counted. Now why did the early church decide it was Friday? Read the following verse: Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. (Mark 15:42-43 NKJV) They assumed since it was the day before the sabbath, it meant Friday. Here is where our background on the sabbath sheds some light. We know that since the crucifixion was on the Passover, it was automatically the day before a sabbath, no matter what day it was on, because the High Sabbath day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the next day. Again, no matter what day Passover was on, the next day was automatically a sabbath. Holding to a Friday crucifixion really is at odds with Scripture. Scripture does say that it was the Feast of First Fruits when He arose, so we know that the resurrection was Sunday (i.e., sunset Saturday — Sunday sunrise). Therefore, using Jesus' own words we conclude it was a Wednesday or Thursday crucifixion If we factor in two more important points there is a stronger case for a Thursday crucifixion: • When the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Bible (66 books, written by 40 authors over 2000 years), He wove various clues into the text in order for us to verify the authenticity of the Bible. As we see prophecy come to pass we gain more respect for the Word because only the God who knows the end from the beginning could predict with 100% accuracy. God's plan for redemption is the message of the Scriptures, it is the gospel, or "good news." There are proclamations or subtle clues on literally every page. The Feasts were not only historic (i.e., to be celebrated once they left Egypt and settled into the Promised Land of Israel), but also prophetic, pointing to the Savior (read Hebrews 8:1-10:39). It is no coincidence that Jesus was crucified on Passover, the same day God saved the Hebrews from the death in Egypt by placing blood of a lamb on the door posts and door jambs (making a cross). It is no coincidence that Jesus arose from the dead on the feast of First Fruits. It is no coincidence that the Church was officially given the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel on the Feast of Pentecost. There are many other accounts in the Scripture that point specifically to Christ's redemption of mankind. Let's go back to Genesis and visit Noah. It is generally held that the ark is a "type" of Jesus. The ark saved Noah and his family from the wrath of God's judgment upon the evil world. Jesus offers salvation to all those who trust in Him, sparing them from judgment for their sins. The ark rested, or finished the work of saving Noah's family on a significant day. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. (Genesis 8:4 NKJV) God instituted a calendar change explained in Exodus, and the seventh month became the first month. It turns out that the same day the ark rested is the 17th day of Nisan, which just happens to be three days and three nights after the 14th of Nisan (the future Passover feast). So that would mean that in prophetic illustration, God caused the ark to rest from the flood (His wrath on an evil world) on the same day that Jesus would rise from the dead to save mankind from the future wrath upon a Christ—rejecting world. Coincidence? Highly unlikely. Note that for this to be a true prophetic model, the only day of the week that works for a Sunday resurrection on the 17th of Nisan, is a Thursday crucifixion on the 14th day of Nisan. • The last argument for a Thursday crucifixion comes from the actions of Mary Magdalene. Why did Mary wait until Sunday to go to the tomb with the ministering oils and herbs? If the crucifixion took place on Wednesday, then Thursday would have been the High Sabbath, making it impossible for her to go to the tomb on that day, but Friday would have been a normal day, with no restrictions. If on the other hand Thursday was the day of the crucifixion, then Friday would have been the high sabbath, and Saturday would have been the weekly sabbath (making it impossible for her to go on Friday or Saturday), leaving Sunday as the first "legal" day she could have made the trip. With all of that said, it must be noted that the day of the week is not something we know from Scripture. If God wanted us to know whether it was Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, it would have been clearly stated. What we do know is that it occurred on Passover as a model of the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb, and that He rose again on the Feast of First Fruits, since He is the First Fruit of the resurrection. It is fine to hold a personal view, but unwise to become dogmatic about it. We should celebrate the cross and the resurrection every day of our earthly visit. Copied from: www.blueletterbible.org/faq/crux.cfm

Why God gave us mothers.

 

Why God gave us mother's.

Some of us have a hard time comprehending God's unfailing love. We cannot understand how someone could know all our flaws, all our shortcomings, all our quirks and annoyances; yet, still loves us with abandon.

The hymn writer wrote it so well:
" O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints' and angels' song…"

God in His infinite wisdom gave us the gift of mother. Through her we learn to see His love, His care and that He is our safe place. We have an inkling of His mercy and forgiveness.

Because of mother, we know we can run to God when we fail. We know we can talk to Him and tell Him all that is in our hearts, - the good, the bad and the ugly. We can expect love, forgiveness and acceptance.

This was what mothering was suppose to do. This is how Father-God designed it to work.

This explains the devastation when our relationship with her, who birthed us, fails. Some have died because of this.

But God...
He is an expert in the re-parenting bussiness. He puts the orphan and lonely and abandoned into families. He says from the cross to His mother and His closest friend: "Woman behold you son." and "Behold, your mother." 

Maybe, when we see the hand of God in this most basic of human relationships, we will walk a little more careful with the mothers God gave us and also with the children God gifted us.

Let Him reveal Himself even through this to you. He is a good, good Father. And NOTHING catches Him by surprise.

Urgent prayer by Mike Gantt

 https://mkgantt.com/urgent-prayers/

Urgent Prayers

 

When my heart ought to be rejoicing – and in fact – is rejoicing, I am also troubled. This post may be a bit long and poorly edited, but its late – I haven’t really slept in two days –  but I desperately need to share my heart.

I visited with two folks at our regional teaching hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center today. They were there under very different circumstances. I want to briefly tell you their stories.

In August of this year our church family along with others from all over New England gathered at our old campground in White River Junction where christians have been gathering for over 130 years. Three year old Michael Vose is usually a bright-eyed, beaming little boy with long, wavy golden curls covering his head.  However, he did not feel well during the entire week of camp. We later found out why.

Michael continued to be lethargic and without his usual bounding energy into the fall. Finally, his local doctors recommended that he be taken to Dartmouth Hitchcock for more careful study.  Soon after checking him into the hospital Michael suffered several violent seizures and slipped into a coma, and on a Saturday night in September his parents learned that the doctors had found a large tumor on his brain stem.  

This 3 year old cherub has brain cancer.  

On Sunday morning the team of doctors gathered with his parents and grandparents to tell them that they were fighting a fight they could not win.  In their opinion, Michael will not survive this battle. Already, the monitors he was connected to were showing less and less brain activity. They stood helpless, watching their son die.  My son Bryan, who pastors with me was with the family as they received this heart wrenching prognosis. As I was preparing to head over to the church to prepare for morning worship, Bryan called me to share this terrible news. Even though I could not see him, I could hear the agony in his voice as he struggled through his tears to give me an accurate account of what was happening.  He suggested, and I agreed, that the church should not hold church as usual, but that we should suspend our normal program and call the church to prayer. After a brief time of worship, I came down from the pulpit to stand on the floor with the congregation and shared with them the heartbreaking phone call I had received earlier that day.

As hot tears ran down my face, I called the church to prayer.  You see, we are a congregation that truly believes that the fervent prayer of the righteous avails much. We still believe in miracles. We still believe God heals. And we don’t believe that doctors, as gifted as they may be, get the last word. At that moment, the church as one bowed before a holy God and for more than an hour we cried out to God on behalf of Michael Vose. It was not pretty. It was not eloquent. It was not orchestrated.  It was heart wrenching, passionate, desperate, pleading, weeping until snot runs out your nose warfare prayer for one of our own. Old men, pre-teen girls, moms, grandmas, hardened laborers, grey hairs, brown hairs, red hairs, and no hairs on our faces before God crying with the most incredible sense of urgency one can imagine.

After more than an hour, I sensed that the church had wrung its heart out before the Throne so we sang a chorus and slowly people drifted out of the church and traveled home.  There was a heavy, but determined spirit in that group of people as I encouraged them not to stop – to keep on praying; to do battle for Michael’s life.

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. Matthew 11:12

Sometimes the urgency of a moment demands urgent, even violent prayer that clashes with the kingdom of darkness and demands that it back off.  That was the prayer the church entered into that Sunday morning in September.

Just about the time our congregation was parting company with many tears still flowing, Michael Vose woke up. The brainwave monitors came to life as he opened eyes and began to interact with his mom and dad.  I believe that morning that the spirit of death was confronted and pushed back by violent, forceful prayer of a congregation of men, women, and children who refused to let go.

The battle is not over.  Michael has just completed his third round of chemo, but the tumors have been shrinking and soon he will move to Boston for targeted radiation as the battle wages.  The fact that he is still alive is a miracle and he continues to be buoyed up by a global network of prayer. At last reckoning, somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 people have declared their intent to pray for Michael. Throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, the far east, and Africa multiplied thousands of people, of every tongue and color and culture are warring  for his life. Michael Vose is carrying the weight of the battle, but he has a massive support team ready to battle with him. That’s story number one; there is another.

On Monday afternoon of this week, my wife and I listened with interest as the emergency scanner in our kitchen got very busy as local emergency services were called to a serious accident just across the river in New Hampshire.  In an area which has seen a lot of motor vehicle collisions, there was yet another. Three cars were involved but only one person was seriously injured. So seriously that they called for a helicopter to fly down from Dartmouth to rush the injured party to the trauma center there for treatment.  As we listened with interest, we breathed a prayer that whoever was involved would survive even as they called for the helicopter and the jaws of life to extricate the female victim from the mangled pile of metal that had been her car. Her injuries were so severe and the shock so great, they ended up sedating her at the scene, effectively putting her into a chemically induced coma to reduce the possibility of greater injury as they transported her to the trauma center.  We saw some photos on social media and electronic news and you could tell that it was bad – really bad.

Several hours later, I got a frantic message from one of my closest friends – a pastor that I have worked with for a number of years and a man that I love and respect deeply.  I truly consider him to be like a brother. The victim of the car crash was his wife and he was flying up the road some 80 miles to Hanover unsure whether she would be alive when he got there.  

My heart sank. We had just had dinner together on Friday night, and what a great time we had – and now Marietjie Chase lay at death’s door. I did the only thing I knew to do – I started to pray.  I prayed all night long, sometimes just crying her name out over and over again, hoping to fill the Throne Room of Heaven with Marietjie’s name, if possible to lay siege to heaven on her behalf. Even as I was praying for Marietjie, I was on my computer contacting friends all over the world mobilizing men and women in every time zone where I have influence to prayer.  In many parts of the United States, in Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand – I reached out to enlist an army of prayer warriors to stand in the gap for this dear sister and for her husband, Pastor Steve. I don’t think I slept for a minute all night, and when I would doze off, I would wake up speaking her name as if not to allow God to lose sight of her. My prayer was not pretty. It was not eloquent. It was urgent, desperate, warfare prayer as I and many others around the world took up our place on the battle lines for her life.

As soon as I could organize myself this morning I drove to Hanover.  I had no idea what I would find, but intercession just kept driving me as I covered the 70 miles or so between the hospital and my house.  When I arrived, I went directly to the ICU unit and asked the receptionist to call Steve and let him know I was there. Within a minute, he was in the hall to greet me.  I didn’t know what to say, so I just grabbed him and held on for a minute.

He said, “Come with me, you’ve got to see this.”  As I walked into to her room in the critical care unit, there was Marietjie, sitting up in a chair, wrapped in a blanket, waiting on her breakfast.  She greeted me with a weak, but sincere smile and I just stood there an looked almost in disbelief. The woman had been in a coma from the time she left the accident until around 6:00 a.m. awoke this morning with a headache and some chest pain.  

Steve said, “I don’t know what anybody else calls this, but you and I know that we are looking at a miracle.”  

Marietjie doesn’t remember anything about the accident. From the time she delivered her last package until she woke up this morning she has no memory.  She was flown to the hospital in a helicopter with the utmost urgency and by this morning she looked like someone who might have tripped over a throw rug.  I wanted to see Michael Vose and my son-in-law’s mother who was recovering from back surgery, so I prayed a prayer of thanksgiving with Steve and Marietjie and left them for my other visits.  She was released from the hospital and back home before I was.

Late this afternoon, as I drove home from Hanover, New Hampshire; bone weary and bleary eyed from no sleep I started to weep, first in joy and then in frustration as I realized that when those of us who love Michael Vose and those of us who love Marietjie Chase were touched by the possibility of losing them something rose up in us and threw us into a full on assault for their lives.  We cried, we shouted at God, we moaned with mournful spirits, we threw ourselves at the mercy seat, grabbed hold of the horns of the altar and refused to let go. An urgency of a moment overshadowed us and it drove us into deep, targeted, keenly focused prayer as we cried out for those whose lives we hold so dear.

My frustration began to boil over as I realized that each of us live in proximity to men and women who are going to stand before God someday without Christ, judged by a righteous God, cast into outer darkness for eternity. I shouted out at no one and everyone in the solitude of my automobile, “Where is our sense of urgency for them, for the lost?”  “Why will we not fall on our faces and plead with the heavens for their lives?” How can we go to work, or to the market, or to the homes of many of our families day after day after day and not feel the same urgency for them that we do for Michael Vose and Marietjie Chase?”

In our community, we are heartbroken over the problems the opiate crisis is creating. We bemoan publically the problems it causes, the homes that are broken, the children that are left orphaned, and yet if we get ten people out for a monthly  community prayer time – we feel pretty good. Where is our urgency for these broken and ruined lives.  Truthfully, most of us would be just as happy if they would just go away, disappear so that we don’t have to deal with them and the problems they create. Where is that urgent, desperate, violent prayer for these ruined lives?

I am not disappointed in anyone more than I am myself. It is my own shame that I expose to you now, my own self-loathing that I can assail the heavens for a Michael Vose or a Marietjie Chase, but my warfare for the broken and lost of our community is really no warfare at all – it’s more of a token prayer, prayed without any desperation or urgency at all.

And, what of our nation? Why is there only finger pointing and name calling and political tug of war being waged while we hope that the right political party will rule to support our own personal preference and agenda. Why are we assassinating President Trump rather than praying for him – but not just him – why are we not in fervent, urgent, desperate prayer for Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and Maxine Waters, among many others?  Why do our mouths cry out for political victory with far more urgency than for a spiritual revival?

I have been faced with truth about myself today. My urgent, desperate, zealous, violent prayers are clearly reserved for those close to me and for whom I have a tender affection. Perhaps there are many of us who reserve our urgency for those closest and little for those who so desperately need a church that will weep for them, who will wage spiritual warfare for them.

I am ashamed.

Curve Balls.

 One of America's favorite sports is baseball. All my boys started playing this game when they were about 4yrs old and the ball was placed on a plastic T for the little guys to hit in place of a pitcher. It is also a nice father-and-son pasttime to put their gloves on and through the ball in the yard.

For those who do not know the game:

 It's a bit like cricket in that the ball is hard, a little bigger than a tennis ball. There is a pitcher and a batter, an opposing team trying to catch the ball once it is hit. There the similarities end.

Baseball bats are round and often made from metal. The field has 3 bases that has to be run to and homeplate from where the batter hits. The ball often bounces back on the batter when hit and, even in professional games, the bat

ter may get hit by the ball. For this reason, they wear helmets.

The pitcher has to deliver the ball over homeplate. It also has to be between the knee and waist of the batter. But with this restrictions the pitcher attempts to make the batter miss or hit bad. If the batter swings at a pitch and misses it is a strike and counts against him.

 Occasionally the pitcher may throw something called a "curve ball". This is accomplished by putting a spin on the ball that makes it fly straight at first but then fly away somewhere else. 

Now that we all understand what a "curve ball" is: 

Sometimes life throws you a curve ball. You are sure it is nothing out of the ordinary and sure you are going to hit it square and solid. But then it bounces up and hits you in the face. It hurts!  The pain is excruciating. You try to right yourself and go on with the game but your mind cannot help searching for "Where did I go wrong", " How did I not see that coming", " I could have, should have done this or that". 

The truth is you could not have seen it coming and nothing you did or did not do, could have prepared you for that curve ball. You only have the option of recovering as best as you can and move on. And yes, the damage may be permanent. Remember, the ball is rock-solid hard. 

BUT do not quit the game!!! 

You have a whole team depending on you. You see, baseball is a team sport. Life is a team sport. You may not see straight right now. You may be hurting more than you think you can stand. But hang in there. The Coach will have it covered. The Coach will know what to do. Just do as He says and keep on going. You are not responsible to figure out the game plan. That is the Coaches job. You just obey Him and go on. 

Yes, it hurts! Go on!

 Yes, you may never recover! Go on!

Yes, you may not see straight right now!

Just, GO ON!

Obey and go on!

RUN! GIRL, RUN!!

If you are out on a date and he flirts with anyone other than you, the waitress for example. When he oogles the girls in bikinis on the beach and turns his head to look at the backside of some skinny model-looking person....He is disrespecting you and he will most likely never respect you. And is most likely addicted to porn.

Call a taxi and lose his number. 

If he orders for you, chooses your clothes and insists on your style be identical to his wishes... if he always have to do what he wants, watch what he wants and visit his friends... when he disrespects your friends and make it unpleasant for all, if you do drag him there.... if his opinion about decorating and style has to be met. Then you have a controller on your hands. He will strangle the life out of you. And you will never escape... if not now.

Run Girl! Block his number. Erase his pictures!


If he pitches a fit like a two year old when he does not get his way, when everything he does for you has strings attached and will come back as a demand for something else, when he is nice to you, your family or your friends and later demands his way in return... He is a manipulator, very cunning and will erode your trust in humanity. You will never have a life of your own with him. He will conn you out of everything that is good and healthy.

Run girl! Hide until you can think straight.

When his thoughts are always better than anybody else's. When he has to find fault with what others do or say... when he has to frown on your efforts, mock your hobby or career... when he minimizes and despise your life. He has an inferiority complex. He will always be swayed by where and with whom he can get his ego stroked. He will be unpredictable and erratic. You will long for peace and tranquility.

Run girl! Run!

When he cannot stand pets and hates little kids... when he enjoys retelling stories of his abusing, beating, someone... when the only movies he would watch are filled with gross violence... when he enjoys the killing of animals and smirks about people's pain.
You have an abuser by the hand. He will take your heart and stomp on it. He will abuse, dehumanizing and assault you.

Run, lady, run! Run while you still can.

When he complains about his job non-stop and his days off is spend laying around doing as little as possible. When he expects to be waited on and you discover that his mother always waited on him. When he expend so little energy that you have to do it for him... You have a child, a spoiled child, a Bonsai of a man. He will never take responsibility. You will have to "mommy" him because he does not see himself as an adult.

So, Run lady, run!

When his head is held high and his mind is made up so that you cannot even discuss an issue.... when he blows cold air on any other person's thoughts and often do not even listen.... when he seldom to never compliment anybody and are nicer to strangers than his own. He is arrogant and full of pride. He will treat you like a queen in public but you will suffer in private. He will humiliate you in the most creative ways.

RUN!! Run girl, run! Save yourself. Put some distance between you. Block his number!

How small we are. How little we know.

It came on like a thief in the night. There was no warning. All of a sudden we were all in a storm. It slammed into all that we were and what we had and did. Our lives, our worlds, were upended in a day, an hour, The clouds hung low. People kept a frightened eye on it and soon all we could talk about was this storm, this crisis, this thing.

The almost visible haze of fear became a suffocating reality. It throttled every iota of joy out of our lives. Most of us ate too much without realizing it. I guess we subconsciously looked for solace in food. Some slept way to much. Most got exhausted from doing nothing. Those with fragile bodies got inflammation. Stress has a very negative affect on the human body.

Lies, deception. schemes and scams, negative, nasty and neurotic we attacked one another. Small things made us cry like two year old's in frustration trying to walk or run. We were buried in the thickness of uncertainty and helpless search for information, truth really. It became a perfect storm. A psychological, financial and physical disaster.

How small we are. How little we know.

God is still where He always has been. This thing did not caught Him by surprise. He is still on the throne and in control. I wonder what Joseph thought when his brothers tossed him in a pit, sold him to some Egyptian slave traders and when he reached his incarceration. Could it be that his mind was milling about like some of ours in the midst of our storm? Could it be that he had similar fears and anxieties'? Or maybe put ourselves in the shoes of Daniel and his young friends. Kidnapped and taken captive to live in the Babylonian Kings court. They are mutilated and schooled into the culture and education of a heathen nation, What must have gone through their minds when the golden statue came to be and the demand to worship it? And when they are cast into a fiery furnace, did they thought like some of us do now: "God where are you?"?

A narrow place often leads to victory. A dark alley more times than not brings one out into incredible light. A place of terror, uncertainty and need too often solidify the truths we have inside of us.  And out of affliction we learn to hold tighter unto His hand and trust our own inclination less and less. The everlasting arms carry us when our knees buckle and His grace is sufficient when nothing else makes sense. We admire the Hero's. We honor the veterans. We listen to the stories. But we fail to realize that it took some unconventional, uncomfortable circumstances to make them.

Trusting God is not a theory. It is something to practice, to live out, to exercise. One cannot learn to ride a bicycle or learn to swim by reading a book or listening to others talking about it. In the middle of the storm, lift up your head and see the Father's loving hand in it all. See Him holding your universe in His hand and trust Him. He knows the end from the beginning and loves you so very, very much. Trust Him. He is in control.

Emotions...

I killed a mouse the other day. Actually I killed a few with traps. Some of the cabinets in the pantry had to be cleaned out and I discovered a nest. The day after I was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea when the cutest, fuzziest, little furrball showed up to warm itself at the heatingvent. I apologized and stepped on it. Then picked it up with a napkin and tossed it in the trash.

Yeah, I know. I do not like killing things either. This time of the year they crawl through every little crack in these woodhouses and the war is on.
No, we cannot humanely dispose of them. There is no Mice farm where they can peacefully live out their days. They will return and spread disease.

Human compassion, human emotion recoils at my mouse-murdering streak. That is, if you are a normal tenderhearted person. But wisdom says that humans and rodents cannot exist in the same space.

Our human emotions is part of what makes us human. It seperates us from other species. As Christians we need to have our emotions sanctified by the cross. What does it mean? It means when the emotion does not line up with what God says, we have to resist and change the emotion.

Yes, you can change how you feel. Emotions do not rule you. If they do, you are a slave and not free.

When Jesus started to prepare His disciples, His intimate group of twelve, for what was about to happen to Him, Peter rebuked Him. Peter, impulsive, choleric Peter. Peter, led by his deep affection for Jesus. Overwelmed by what they already sacrificed to walk with Jesus those three years, he was not having this talk about a bloody, cruel death. We can understand that. These men left family, wives, fathers, bussiness, homes and land to follow Jesus. Now, He wants to quit and die. Human emotion had a response to this.

But Jesus... Jesus rebuked Peter harshly: " Get behind me satan!! You are mindfull of the things of man and not of the things of God."

Too often it is the good that derails and hijacks the best. Too often it is the parent or the friend who loves us who interferes with God's plan and call for our lives.

It happened to Paul the apostle. After the prophet Agabus tells him of his impending imprisonment, the church wailed and wept. Paul rebuked them: "  Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. " Acts 21v13

Biblical examples abound.

How do we first deal with our own emotions? And second, how do we deal with our loved ones when they have an emotional response to what  we follow God in?

We have to constantly bring our emotions in line with God's word. For this to happen, we need to know the book. Our emotions by itself is not bad. How we allow it or use it to glorify God or steal our own peace, is important. You shall love the Lord, your God with all of your mind, heart, will and strength. Sounds like emotion is part of it. All of us, all of what we are, needs to  bow down before Him.

When our loved ones respond emotionally, we need to recognise it. Honor and respect them but listen and obey God. We are responsible for our actions before God. We are not the keepers of their emotions. We love them and treat them with respect but we have only one Master; the Lord Jesus Christ.