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I was taking a break from my bible reading this morning to go mail a letter,  (I know, who still uses snail mail?  I had a tougher time finding a mail box to put it in.)  when I came across this sign a couple of blocks from my house.

 

This road here is important because it leads to a supermarket and two pharmacies, a gas station located in the same plaza along with some other stores.  Getting around for me is easy because I don't drive and even still I know the area well enough not to get lost trying to find another way into the shopping center.  (Hmm, I wonder how many cars took a wrong turn just trying to get from point A to B?)

 

For a brief moment I thought about all the roads, streets and highways we travel in a typical lifetime going to and from--anywhere.  Can we, each individual, put a number on all the miles we transverse in the course of our lifetimes?  Can we remember all the places such said roads have taken us?  And also, was it where we wanted to go or did we get lost along the way and we wound up elsewhere?

 

Here is my plumb line or established fact:

God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end.   (It says so in Revelation 1:8) 

 

How great would it be if  all the roads in life that led us away from God were marked in such a manner?  Yes, I agree. 

Many of my life's experience have been spent in places these roads have taken me.  Several times I found myself lost and confused not knowing whom to trust.  Plus, when you don't know the area or people, the fear factor gets amped up a few notches.  Or you, like Lot, are deceived by the surroundings and are soon partaking of them.    

Let me backtrack a bit.  God is all-knowing and Darryl is not.  God knows all the things in life that will befall (wow, nothing from spell checker, did not know it really was a word) me and I do not.  Hence, the roads I/we take.  If only.

 

Truthfully, I wish some of the roads I have been on after becoming a Christian were marked 'closed'.  The pain, heartache and separation would have been avoided.  Is this all part of God's plan?  Of course it is.  Jesus traveled to many cities, taking different paths and Him knowing what was to happen gladly went down each and every road without hesitation.  Why?  If not for His obedience to God, Jesus very well may have walked past the town I was in and I would have missed out on the free gift of salvation.  Jesus' life and the men and women who went with Him, was shaped by the roads they traveled and the people met along the way. So are the lives of you and I.  Quite often we get somewhere or do something and say, "Why did I come here?" 

That question has two minds of thought, but I will go with the mind that has been renewed.  God has sent me here to do His will. 

 

I should not be thinking of the hardships I may face, I should be thinking of the one facing hardships, who needs to know there is a rest, hope, peace and eternal life for them waiting in the person of Jesus Christ.

 

Now, when I come upon a road closed sign, I can see two messages.  The first message is this, I have been there once and because of the Cross of Calvary, I don't have to go there again.  My life is changed, my sins forgiven.  The second message is this, someone on the other side of the sign, much like the road, is being worked on and restored to a new and better condition.    

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thirsty

Where can my spirit find rest?

 

I am in an desert trying to find water

from all directions I can see only the

harsh conditions of my spirit.

 

Dry and decaying from the lack

of moisture.  My skin peels easily

like a snake shedding its old skin.

 

How long LORD will you be silent to me?

How long before I am consumed by the torrid heat?

 

Can anyone save me? 

I feel as though I am walking through a graveyard.

Could this sand be the remains of so many others

who have chosen this path? 

 

The sun, so high in the sky, appears to be a mere inches from me.

The heat is unbearable. 

I shed more clothing. 

Almost down to nothing.

 

Relief, I must find relief. 

My throat is getting dryer.  My mouth is held slightly open

by the fatness of my swollen tongue.

My body aches, my steps are shorter, the sand seems heavier.

 

There is a greater thirst within me now. 

It is growing with each thought and soon reality of my demise.

Eternity. 

My spirit mirrors this dry and barren wasteland.

My spirit is crying out because it also thirsts. 

 

O God, You are my God;

My soul thirsts for You

My flesh longs for You

Hear my voice

Preserve my life

 

My soul, wait silently for God alone

Trust in Him at all times

Pour out your heart before Him

God is a refuge for us, even in a barren wasteland.  

 

 

 



Famous Quotes

God brings men and women into deep waters not to drown them, but to cleanse them.


John H. Aughey

My First Time

Thursday was a good day for me. I did some laundry (overdue), cleaned around the house (needed) and I went to the library. I had not gone to the library for some time because of work and other commitments. However, I made it a point to set aside some time to go there and at least look around. I'm glad I did.
Hazleton area library has expanded it DVD, audio books section and I wanted to peruse it and hopefully find something to check out. While looking at the list of audiobooks I noticed they had a new arrival--Charles Dickens "A Tale of Two Cities". My eyes lit up. Goodie, goodie. However, it was not to be because someone beat me to it while I was looking at the new arrivals list. Bummer :( All was not lost though. Near the front entrance they have of donated books, and I found a copy of "Oepidus the King and Antigone", two great Greek plays in one book. (The rainbow was back in the sky). So far so good on my library run. As I was preparing to leave I noticed a flyer on the bulletin board. It was for a book club that was going to meet on thursday May 9th. Interesting. I looked at the book for the upcoming meeting-"The Lifeboat".
Hmm! Why not? So with great interest I signed up for the book club and I have three weeks to read it before our meeting. The head of the club, Kathy, gave me a rundown of the club and what I could expect. Very inviting. For me it is something different and opens me up to new books and people. I shall definitely post my experiences. The not-so-downside is, I am the only guy in the club.
At that point I started to sweat a little and thought, "what have I gotten myself into?" Not. Life offers change and this is really a change of pace for me. I embrace the challenge.

Muse--Part Two (second noun)

"We are the Borg.  Resistance is futile."

Has anyone ever felt that way?  I have.  As a matter of fact, the enemy of all things that belong to God, tells me that on a daily basis.  How about you?

It is a cold and windy day today in the city of Hazleton, Pa.  As I make my way around town running errands, the wind seems extra 'pushy' today and an image pops into my head.  The image, is soldiers of darkness, beating the hedge of protection  put about me by my heavenly father. At times the sound is most deafining and I want to scream and yell for them to stop the assault.  But the word of God tells me that I/we have an enemy who seeks to kill, steal and destroy me and my relationship with God.

Those three words (steal, kill, destroy), I can see in this physical world and when I was 'a young Christian' I could not relate it as easily to the spiritual world.  Now however, the scales have been removed.
The Borg, are really docile compared to the minions of Satan.  (In case you have not figured it out, I am a HUGE Star Trek fan.) 

Looking around me, I see a piece of paper being tossed about by the wind and I laugh within myself and remember how I used to be tossed about by Satan, unsure of life, death, heaven and hell (well pretty much everything).  Then I came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  The constant swirling of the wind around and about me only stiffens my resolve and my faith in Jehovah.  I have had my share of difficulties in this life and often wish for the end of it all.  (Yes, that end.)  Satan will never give up on me and he will use everything in his bag of tricks to try to convince me that God does not love me or cares what happens to me. 
My Savior Jesus went through the same thing once in the wilderness before the start of His earthly ministry and again in the garden of Gethsemane before Judas betrayed him with a kiss.  Satan did not want Jesus to begin (wilderness) or finish (garden) what God called for Him to do.  As with you and I, Satan tries to get us to abort our mission and give up.  Quite often at the cost of those who need to hear God's message of salvation and offer of eternal hope.  Buffeting is only one of his many tactics.  Add to his list fear, confusion, loneliness, doubt, the unknown, etc.  Whenever I read the about the life and ministry of Jesus, I am comforted by both his words and his deeds.  Jesus is our great example and if I may, a great muse.  Why?  When I need encouragement and inspiration, whom else should I look to but Him?

Next time you hear someone whispering in your ear that "resistance is futile" look to Jesus and remember James 4:7 "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

  

What sayest thou, Jeremiah?

A coworker, this afternoon, asked me a question and I was surprised to say the least.  I will not give his real name but address him as "Y".  Here goes.

'Y' comes to me and says, "Darryl tell me why did God let two bombs explode near the finish line of the Boston marathon?"
Let me address two things before I go on.  First, I had no idea that such an incident occurred only a few minutes before his posing the question to me.  Second, 'Y' had his heart set on rejecting anything I said by way of an answer to his question.  Cracking on.

"God did not let the two bombs explode, as if He was standing there.  However, God does allows things to happen, so He could get our attention."
'Y' stood there with a rejected look on his face, as I continued.
"Plain and simple, God allowed this to happen because He gave mankind freewill and this is how the person/people involved chose to use it."

"What?" 'Y' exclaimed. 

God has become a hot-button topic at my job lately and I have almost felt defensive, when confronted by my co-workers.  Yet, despite the furor of "Why God.....?"  I have not stopped trying to win these people for the kingdom of heaven. 
I told him point blank, that no matter what I told him, (Y) he was going to reject it and I was not going to try to appease him.  I do not know the mind of God during those times of travesty.  But, things happen in our lives and we have to stop blaming God and look at some to the decisions we make as so called people of enlightenment.  Sin, is the reason why someone(s) planted and set off explosives in a major event such as the Boston marathon!  Life for some means absolutely nothing.  Look at the direction our country, states, neighborhoods, and homes are going these days?  Something like this should get our attention. 

GOD IS TRYING TO GET OUR ATTENTION AS A NATION AND AS INDIVIDUALS. 

Don't shake your fist at the sky and say, "God why did you let this happen?"
God is not the problem, He is the solution.  There are a litany of things I could list here and I would be right in doing so, but I am not the focus.  As a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, peace fills me, because I know that my eternal resting place is in heaven with the one who gave His life for me   I am also made of flesh and I know what sin does to the body and how corrupt one's thinking becomes because of said sin.  I grieve for those who were hurt and killed by this senseless act.  My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was there either as a participant or volunteer, or emergency workers.  I am a former runner and the last thing on any one's mind is for something as tragic as this to happen during a race.  Yet, I cannot look past the reality of the situation.  This 'act' springs from the heart of man. 

So, in closing, what does Jeremiah have to say? 
The prophet Jeremiah says in chapter 17:9 of his book, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?" 

God knows the heart of man, and He is never surprised by the sin man's heart continually devises.  However, when God tries to reveal His heart to us, we turn a blind eye. 

Muse--Part One (verb)

Sometimes, within myself, I wonder if it is worth the effort to read scripture? Continue on, don't judge me yet. A good part of my day is spent sharing the gospel and bible with several coworkers.
In the beginning of all this, there was an excitement and unabashed joy. "Wow, they really want to know the truth."
Now my days are filled with trying to show them the gospel message.  (i.e.) they are continually watching me and every time I stub my toe or get angry, there they be like vultures in the desert circling a carcass. Today was an especially bad day. No matter how much praying I did and forgiveness asking, I could not break the stronghold the enemy had over me. I don't go to work seeking confrontation or debate. Yet, they all know that I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ.

THEY PUSH MY BUTTONS. 

Two things come to mind, one a scripture, the other a saying. Let us start with the scripture.  Matthew 7:6 (in part) says "do not cast your pearls before swine."  Can I look at these people I share Jesus with, and call them swine when the ridicule me? Yes. But, am I justified by doing so? No, I am not.  Now, for the other shoe to drop, the saying.  As long as there is breath in my body and theirs, I must continue to pray for them and of course share the message of salvation. Why are these supposed seekers of truth more apt to criticize my failures as a 'religious person' than they are to accept the truth of Jesus Christ and God's love for them?
Now, back to my opening statement.  From time to time I do get stumped and confused when reading the bible.  Who does not?  (Obviously that question is posed to readers of the bible.)  In my humanity I want to walk away from all the naysayers of the bible and how they perceive the True God.  Why accept the mocking and ridicule?  Why not let those ignorant of the truth remain ignorant?  They seem to think they have the answers to life and death.  Why waist the time and energy trying to persuade them?  Jesus spoke to all who wanted to hear Him.  Jesus also healed everyone who came to Him.  No exceptions. 
When I ponder the necessity of the Holy Scriptures then I need to check my relationship with God.  As a born again believer, I should be finding inspiration in God's word.  There are many examples of godly people contained in the scriptures being inspired by the Spirit of God to continue on and walk by faith, despite much opposition.  So should I.  Let me close with some words from the apostle Paul as found in Second Corinthians 4: 8-11.

We are troubled on every side, 

yet not distressed; we are

perplexed, but not in despair;

Persecuted, but not forsaken;

cast down, but not destroyed;

Always bearing about in the body

the dying of the Lord Jesus,

that the life also of Jesus might be 

made manifest in our body.

For we which live are

always delivered unto death

for Jesus' sake, that the

life also of Jesus might be

made manifest in our mortal flesh.

 

I should take great joy in what I am going through, (it is for His glory and His kingdom), yet unless I take great joy in reading the scriptures, then I shall be pressed in and counted out.      

Famous Quotes

When it comes time to die, make sure all you have to do is die!

Have You Ever

I apologize for not blogging as much lately and i will rectify that in the coming days. Lack of time and sickness have become steady companions of mine.

(This is from a journal entry dated the morning of July 2009)

Have you ever....

Put out your hand to help someone who has fallen?

Given someone something to drink when they were thirsty?
Given someone food when they were hungry?

Prayed for someone on the street and given a word of encouragement along with some of your time?

Stopped to think how much better off the next person may be if....?


A compassionate heart, a helping hand and a gentle word can restore a person's confidence in mankind and hope within themselves.

Jesus was all of these and so much more. We too need to be so much more than ourselves.