Musings and Nuggets

Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.  Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.  When He appeared in human form, He humbled  Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.                                         Philippians 2:6-8 (NLT) The Oxford Dictionary defines fully as "completely,  thoroughly, totally and in every respect".  All of the things that Christ suffered during His 3 years of public ministry, He suffered as a human being.  As a man, He was not immune to disppointment, lies, and the physical pain and torture He endured on His way to the cross. Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash We see both His humanity and His divine nature as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane to the Father asking if He (Jesus) could avoid the suffering that was ahead of Him.  There we see His humanity.  When He refocused on His assignment in the ea

                                                                                       Photo In Collaboration with Joe Eitzen on UnSplash And the families of the scribes who dwelt at Jabez were the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and the Suchathites.   1 Chronicles 2:55a ( NKJV) Let me say at the outset that this week's post is a bit of a deviation from my usual content.  When I began studying Jabez, I did not know that there was also a town/city which bore his name located near Bethlehem.  According to Wikipedia there is also a town in Kentucky named Jabez.  It is "an unincorporated community located in Russell County, Kentucky, United States."  The Post Office that was built for this community in 1881 is said to still be standing. It also appears that there have been several people named Jabez including a politician, an actor, a rapper and even a church.  Who knew!?!  From a Biblical standpoint, the only times recorded in scripture where Jabez is even mentioned are found

  And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!"  So God granted him what he requested.    1 Chron. 4:10 (NKJV) When I began to research the background on this Biblical figure,  part of me felt sorry for him.  The name his mother gave him, Jabez (in Hebrew) means "he makes sorrowful" because of the pain she had in birthing him.  Imagine the weight of knowing that your very name means pain . Jabez is only mentioned once in the Bible.  In Verse 9, he was said to be more honorable than his other brothers.  He grew up without a father, meaning he had no father figure to immulate, nor one to leave him an inheritance.   I imagine that his self-esteem was level to the ground.  So, he turned to God as his Father to bless him (territory), to be with him, to protect him, and that he not cause (any more) pain.   Whe

Hummingbirds are mesmerizing and entertaining to me.  One of the many amazing things about them is their memory.  They migrate south for the winter, so as I am seeing signs of some leaves beginning to ever so slightly display their Fall colors, it reminds me that they will soon be heading South for the winter. However, because of their amazing memories, they are able to return remembering the exact locations of the feeders that people like me put out for them to provide much needed *sustenance for their bodies.  Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.  Psalm 103:2 (NLT) 2  When we feel "peppered" with various tests/challenges in our lives, we sometimes tend to loose sight of all of the previous times when God has been faithful. We begin to focus on the size of the challenge we are facing instead of the "bigness" and faithfulness of our God!  We must feed our faith with prayer and scripture, while never losing sight of

Jesus asked, "Didn't I heal ten men?  Where are the other nine?  Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?                                              Luke: 17:17-18, NLT THE BACK STORY:   Samaritans were looked down upon by the Jews.  They saw them as being what some would call "half breeds" because of intermarriages (between ethnic/racial backgrounds).  One of them was a Samaritan and the other 9 were Jews (God's chosen people), yet leprosy in this case seemed to be an equalizer.   Lepers had to keep distance between themselves and others while yelling "UNCLEAN!". ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  In Luke 17:11-18 , Jesus was traveling from Gallilee to Samaria when 10 men called out begging Him to heal them.   He told them to go show themselves to the priest who was the only one who could declare them cleansed or healed. They were healed as they went.  Imagine the joy and relief of being

  * No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead , I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling.   Philippians 3:13-14 (NLT)      Photo by Zhengtao Tang  On Unsplash                                                                       If you are one of the people who did not watch the Ted Lasso series while it aired on Apple +, I will give you context for the title of this blog installment. https://youtu.be/_KXqWCLHgHg?si=x4dwWEtInQSTHzRA When we have been hurt or disappointed, it isn't easy to just decide to forget it and/or "let it go" like goldfish.  Sometimes these type of events demoralize or crush a person's self-esteem to the degree that not only do they lose confidence in themselves, they also lose hope for their future.  There are adults who have unfortunately carried that deep childh