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Multi-Tasking
Milk & Honey, and Oatmeal
Oatmeal for breakfast with honey and pecans—the perfect fall breakfast.
Sometimes we had eggs but Mama always made “lace” on the eggs, or the yolk would be broken or hard. When she scrambled eggs, she stirred them in the pan, instead of beating them in a bowl first, and there were always strings of egg white, which made me gag. I was so picky it was a wonder I lived to adulthood.
Now I am trying to go back to God’s natural eating plan. I even thought of making up a diet with fatted calf, fish and bread, milk and honey, olives, figs, grains, vegetables, seeds, and honey cakes. I draw the line at eating locust, though. Sorry, John the Baptist.
No Need for a Battery
I was going through some older stuffed animals in the spare bedroom recently, when I ran across a stuffed bear in nightclothes and a nightcap. As I cuddled him, I remembered that he used to have a heart, which I found in the dresser drawer. I found a 9-volt battery to make it work, then inserted the red heart complete with battery into the hole in his side. When I turned it on and hugged him, the bear’s heart started beating. He came to life with a beating heart; at least as much alive as a stuffed animal can be.
When Jesus hung on the cross, the soldiers pierced Jesus’ beating heart, and the blood flowed out of his body. His heart stopped beating until three days later at the precise moment that the Holy Spirit of God brought the power from heaven to resurrect Jesus Christ from the dead.
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11 New King James Version.
If I have received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, then that same Spirit does indeed dwell in me. He will make my flesh-and-blood body come to life, by the life of Christ which flows in my veins, going into each little cell to keep me alive until that day that I receive my new immortal body that will live forever.
I know this old body will completely wear out one day, but until then I’m claiming the promise that the Spirit of God will renew my physical body. I depend on God to give me strength to breathe, move, and live every day of my life.
Because I belong to God, one day He will give me an immortal body that will never die, with a heart that will beat forever. No need for a battery.
Routines
Jonah and Las Vegas
Imagine God telling you to go to Las Vegas and walk the streets telling the people, “In forty days, Las Vegas will be overthrown.”
Imagine walking down the sidewalk in front of the MGM Grand Hotel where the golden lion sits guarding the entrance to the great casino, wearing nasty clothes, and smelling like fish guts and seawater, the results of being swallowed by the great fish. You walk through the crowd of well-dressed business people, flashy dressed gamblers, prostitutes, and comfortably-dressed tourists.
“In forty days, Las Vegas will be overthrown.” You don’t tell them to repent. In fact, you would
rather they didn’t.
God sent Jonah to Las Vegas. Well, okay then, Nineveh. The people of Nineveh believed Jonah and God. The king of Nineveh proclaimed a fast and ordered the people to cry out to God, so that God would change His mind and not destroy the city.
Sure enough, it worked. God made a liar out of Jonah. God forgave them. Jonah knew God would do that, because God is kind and compassionate, full of mercy and it made Jonah mad when God didn’t destroy them.
Jonah said, “This is exactly what I thought you’d do, Lord. . . For I knew you were a gracious God, merciful, slow to get angry, and full of kindness; I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people.” Jonah 4:2 Living Bible.
In Jonah’s great desire to see the people of Nineveh wiped off the face of the earth, he had forgotten that God had specifically called Israel to be a light, to reveal God to the world. Jonah’s problem was that he was patriotic; he believed God’s mercy and love was exclusive to the country of Israel. Jonah had forgotten that the people of Nineveh were people just like him, in need of God’s mercy and grace.
God loved the people of Nineveh and He loves the people of Las Vegas, too, just like He loved Jonah and He loves us all.