December 17

Here is a beautiful piece of writing and I hope, sermon, in response to Friday's unspeakable tragedy.
I was especially comforted by the the final three quotes, which includes one from Mr. Rogers, one of my personal heroes.


OT -- Nahum
Just when you think you know a little about the Bible, something HUGE slaps you upside the head.
For years, I had assumed that Jonah was the only prophet to Assyria. Wrong.
Nahum opens with 'an oracle concerning Nineveh (the capital city of Assyria)'.
The entire book is in today's scripture and it is a brutal one. No wonder Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. Those dudes were BAD. And according to Nahum, God is going to destroy Nineveh which eventually came true but not before Israel was obliterated and all of her people were scattered to the winds.

I had also heard that Jonah is the only book of the Bible to end with a question. Also not true. So does Nahum.
So much for my standing with Bible trivia.

Proverbs 30:7-9
"Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches but only my daily bread."
My friend Susan just told me that a man from her hometown won a share in the massive PowerBall lottery recently. She knows him and says he and his wife are 'good people'. With 75 million, they won't be for long.
It is the rare quick rich who not only keeps the money but does good and remains 'good people'. It is just too hard with the tempter(s) hanging around.

But it is also hard to be 'good people' when you are scratching out a poverty existence.
I am with the proverbist with a slight twist -- I would like my daily bread with my health and my mind.

NT-- Revelation 8:1-13
Keep in mind that what is being opened is God's 'Will' for creation. Clearly, we have been judged and found wanting. The first three of seven angels rain destruction down on the earth. I hate to give away part of the story but numbers 5 and six are bad for the earth as well.