Musings and Nuggets

                                              The Second Leg of the Journey Key Verse: Genesis 39:1 (NLT) When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer.  Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharoah, the king of Egypt. Joseph is now a slave in (Egypt) away from all that was familiar and his father who loved him dearly.   There are two things, however, that remained constant.  They were the faithfulness of God and Joseph’s solid faith in his visions from God. It was not long before even Potiphar recognized God’s hand on Joseph’s life.  Potiphar had confidence in Joseph’s integrity and management ability because he saw that his household and all that he owned (crops and livestock)  flourished under Joseph’s watchful care.  Joseph was young, well built, and easy on the eyes.  Mrs. Potiphar seemed to have nothing with which to occupy herself or her time while her husband was away. This is where the plot thickens.  During o

Key Verse:  Genesis 37:18, 20  (NKJV) Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him!  We shall see what will become of his dreams!” Last week, our focus was on Joseph whose journey had unexpected twists and turns before he experienced the manifestation of the vision God had given him as a young lad. Joseph was Israel’s favorite son, born of his favorite wife (Rachel), and “the son of his old age”. (Genesis 37:3) . The fact that He treated Joseph better than the other sons made the brothers both envy and hate him. So much so that his brothers discussed actually murdering Joseph.  Rueben, the eldest of them all,  convinced them that since Joseph was family, they should not kill him, but throw him into the pit with no water.  The brothers listened and agreed, but Rueben’s secret plan  was to double back alone, rescue J

  Key Scripture: Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more.       Genesis 37:3                                                                                                 Sometimes when the Lord shows us a vision of His plans for our lives, we assume that it will happen right away.  We may even begin to make plans.  But we soon learn that His itinerary for our journey is much different than we imagine because His timing and plans are rarely the same as ours.  As a youngster Joseph knew and was confident in the visions/dreams that God had shown him about his future, but when he shared it with his brothers and even his father, Israel,  they saw him as bragging ( Verse 10 ).  His brothers went from disliking him to actually hating him because Joseph was also Israel's favorite.   When Israel gave Joseph the “coat of many colors” ( Verse 3a ), Joseph’s brothers despised him even more. Might one of  the lessons here be that it is not wise t

Key Scripture:   No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; God is faithful, Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 13:10 (NKJV)  What is a mole?  I am referring to that disgusting pest (insectivore) that builds tunnels throughout your garden or, in my case, yard wreaking havoc to my once attractive yard.  This picture (upper left) shows the uninvited intruder that “single handedly” decimated my yard….front and back.  You can see one of those paws in that picture.   Below is a picture showing how it even pushed one of my garden lights right out of the ground.                            If you have never seen one, just google images of moles/animals to see what they really look like.  Be prepared to be grossed out!  You can’t see what they do because they do it underground (out of sight), but the destructive results of what they do are c