THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

October 23, 2024

LIFE IN THE FOLD

Recently Jon and I went out for dinner. On the drive home, traffic was heavy and was bumper to bumper for a couple miles. The street we were on was two-lanes, which made it go even slower. There was a SUV in front of us, then a truck in front of that vehicle.

We were having to stop every few feet. Every single time we would stop, that truck would try to do a burnout; at least, I think that was what he was trying to do. He would rev up his engine as loud as he could and black smoke would billow out his exhaust pipe. A few of those times, he'd leave black marks on the pavement. It was very loud, stinky, and annoying!! I felt bad for the person in the vehicle that was right behind him.

We assumed that it was a young man who was practicing how to do burnouts. He likely had no idea how annoying he was -- or perhaps he just didn't care. Then again, it may have been an older guy who was trying to relive his younger days!

I mentioned that it would be a little bit funny if the person behind him knew who he was, took a video on their phone of what he was doing, then followed him home to show his parents. But again, it may have been the boys dad that had shown him how to do the burnouts; or had told him stories of things he had done when he was younger and the son was trying to learn how on his own. Or, it could have been someone old enough to know better! When the truck finally went into a turning lane and we drove by, the windows were too tinted for me to see the age of the driver. I just saw that it was a male driver, who was in the vehicle by himself.

Honestly, I've never attempted to do a burnout or lay rubber on the pavement or anything of that nature. But Jon, in his younger days, has done so. His first car was an old Camero and from what he has said, he drove fast and did all of those things that seem to give young men (and some older men!) a thrill.... and some women, too, apparently.

Since Old Testament times there has been ingrained in men a need for speed!

In 2 Kings chapter 9, we read a story about King Jehu. I'm not going to share the whole story, but Jehu got into a chariot and rode to Jezreel to find King Joram, who was wounded at the time. King Ahaziah from Judah was visiting him. A watchman on the tower saw troops coming and shouted out to warn Joram. Twice King Joram sent messengers out to ask if they were coming in peace. Both times, Jehu ordered the messenger to fall in behind him. The watchman would call out to the king to let him know that the messenger had met them, but was not returning.

Then the watchman exclaimed, "It must be Jehu, for he's driving like a madman!" Other versions read, "He drives like a maniac;" or "he drives furiously."

Apparently, Jehu had a reputation that was well known for how he drove a chariot! The watchman recognized who he was, from a distance, due to how he was driving.

My favorite story, though, is one of Elijah. He was supernaturally given a fleetness of feet, that could only have been given to him by God!

You can read the story in its entirety in 1 Kings chapters 17-18. Elijah had prophesied to King Ahab that there wouldn't be rain in Israel for a few years, until he gave the word. During the third year of the drought, the Lord told Elijah to present himself to Ahab and tell him that soon he would send rain. There was severe famine in Samaria at the time.

Elijah told Ahab to summon all Israel and the prophets of Baal to Mount Carmel. Elijah stood in front of them and asked, "How much longer will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!" The false prophets called upon the Baal for hours to cause fire to come burn their sacrifice, with no results.

Elijah then repaired the altar of the Lord, and prepared his sacrifice. He prayed a simple prayer. Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, stones, dust, and even licked up all the water in the trench. The people then fell down and ground and cried out, "The Lord -- He is God!"

Elijah then climbed to the top of the mountain and prayed for rain. After the seventh time of sending his servant out, the servant reported that he saw a little cloud about the size of a man's hand rising from the sea.

Elijah shouted, "Hurry to Ahab and tell him, 'Climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don't hurry, the rain will stop you!'"

Soon the sky was black with clouds. A heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm, and Ahab left quickly for Jezreel.

I love this: "Then the Lord gave special strength to Elijah. He tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab's chariot all the way to the entrance of Jezreel."

There's a difference when you do things on your own and when you do it with God's help!

When you do things on your own, you tend to not care who you hurt or what affect it may have on others. You're doing it for your own pleasure and to please yourself. You may not even care if it is annoying or stinky or noisy to those around you; you're having fun and that's all that matters in that moment. That feeling of adrenaline makes you feel invincible, as if nothing could possibly go wrong or you could be hurt. It's all about that moment and making yourself feel good.

When you live to please God, you care about those around you and consider their comfort. You act out of love and kindness and put the needs of others above yourself. You don't act out of selfishness or jealousy; nor do you have the goal of trying to impress others. You strive to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and might; then to love others as you love yourself. There may be times when you fail and mistakes are made, but you then repent and ask God to help you do better next time.

Here's the really cool thing: Elijah got to experience the supernatural strength and power of God, because he loved God above all else. He wasn't trying to outrun Ahab's chariot on his own strength or to try and impress the king and all those surrounding him. He wasn't doing it to show off; in fact, I doubt that Elijah had the ability to move that quickly on his own. He was only able to run that fast due to God enabling him to do so in that moment.

I believe that if he was halfway to Jezreel and he began to think, "Ohh... look how fast I can run! I can run faster than a horse pulling a chariot; I'm amazing!! I hope the king and everyone sees how I'm out-running him;" then I think that perhaps God would have withdrawn His power from Elijah at that moment, and he would have found himself floundering and his strength spent. But Elijah didn't do that!

Kind of like Peter when Jesus supernaturally enabled him to walk on the water, until Peter's eyes became more focused on the storm than on Jesus. Fear caused him to flounder, until Jesus caught hold of him and saved him. Had Peter became prideful in that moment when he began walking on water and turned back to the boat to yell at the other disciples, "Hey look at what I can do! I can walk on water, and you can't!"; then I think his pride would have also caused his downfall. But that isn't what cause him to begin to sink.

Elijah was so faithful to God, that he didn't even die a natural death. For a second time, Elijah got to experience speed that surpassed anything he could ever imagine. 2 Kings chapter 2 begins by saying the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind. Later, as Elijah and Elisha were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire. It drove between the two men, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven.

What a ride that must have been! In a matter of seconds, Elijah was caught up in a chariot of fire, in a whirlwind, straight into heaven. What a way to go!!!

Look at the difference in Elijah's ending and Jehu's: Jehu did some good things during his reign as king. But 2 Kings 10:31 says, "Jehu did not obey the Law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit."

Jehu had torn down the temple of Baal and destroyed all the priest and worshippers of Baal. He destroyed every trace of Baal worship from Israel. Sounds good, right? But he did not, however, destroy the gold calves at Bethel and Dan, with which Jeroboam had cause Israel to sin." I think perhaps it was easy for him to destroy the idol that he didn't worship; but he had difficulty destroying those that he did choose to worship, so he left those.

In the example that I gave in the beginning, the man who was in the middle of traffic and practicing doing burnouts could have ended up causing an accident. Traffic was bumper to bumper with no shoulders alongside the lanes. Had his foot accidentally slipped off his brake, he would have slammed hard into the car in front of him, which would have likely had a domino affect and caused that vehicle to hit the car in front of them. His moments of "fun" and "entertainment" for himself could have ended very differently. But I'm sure in that moment, no one would have been able to convince him that he could mess up or harm could happen. He likely believed that he knew what he was doing and nothing could go wrong. Thankfully, it didn't.

I'd much rather live a life that pleases God and not have a heart that is divided. I never want to grow lukewarm in my love for the Lord, trying to do what's right while trying to please myself and partake in the sins of the world. "Well done, good and faithful servant," are the words I most want to hear the Father speak when I enter into heaven. But during my time on earth, I want to strive to please the Lord and live as He would have me to live.

And guess what? Should we go to heaven via the rapture, we're going to get to experience a speed that far surpasses anything anyone has ever got to experience. For in a moment, in the twinkling (blink) of an eye, we will be caught up and taking to heaven. What a way to go!

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

The driver who was burning-out reminded me of another driver I've heard about. He had bought a truck and tricked it out. Among the modifications he did, he added an aluminum block for his engine, and added a nitrous-oxide injector. If you know chemistry well, you'll see why that's a bad idea... On the first day after the modifications were done, he got up to speed and kicked on the nitrous-oxide. The aluminum block, nitrous-oxide, and heat were all that were needed for a great fire. And aluminum burns hotter than most fuels, especially with nitrous-oxide instead of plain air. The fire not only destroyed the entire truck, but also a large patch of asphalt. And because the nitrous-oxide was an illegal modification to his truck, his insurance wasn't liable for any of it.

The driver we were watching recently could have faced the same issue. To burn out, he had to hold his brakes hard enough for his front brakes to prevent him moving, but light enough to allow the engine to make the back wheels spin. If he had misjudged, he could have burned out his breaks in the back, or taken off and hit other cars. Since he was deliberately burning-out, I'm sure his insurance wouldn't have been liable.

Even done successfully, he was probably tearing up his transmission, back breaks, and (if it was manual transmission) his clutch. As much as he was doing it, I'm a little surprised he was still able to drive after it.

I doubt either driver believed anything could go wrong. Even if someone warned them, they probably ignored it. The same goes for sinning. Some sins might seem like they won't cause any harm. But each time is a risk, and we can't know which time will ruin a life.

ON THE MENEWE:

Hidden Valley Ranch Oyster Crackers

Whisk together oil, dry dressing mix, and spices.

Put crackers in a large bowl and pour mixture over the top; stir to coat evenly.

Spread crackers in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 275 for 15-20 minutes.

Let cool, then store in a ziplock baag or airtight container.

(This is one of my favorite snack crackers!)

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

Nine years ago, my sister unexpected ended up with two little boys that she fostered for several weeks, while their mom was in the hospital, due to an accident. The youngest was a newborn (the mom went into labor when she had the accident), who was brought to my sister straight from the hospital, and his brother was only 1 year old.

I had a memory on social media that just popped up this week that made me wonder, "How in the world did I do that?!" I was babysitting those two boys, while my sister went to do a sign language interpreting job. At that time, I was babysitting my niece's little girl full-time, who wasn't quite 2 yet. I was feeding a 3-month old his bottle, his one-year-old brother was climbing on my lap and over my legs the entire time, and my 22-month old great-niece was sitting on my feet wanting me to bounce her up and down!! I would have been 50 at that time. At 59, I'm not quite sure I could handle three that young all at the same time! What a handful!!

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;

He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalms 34:18

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org