God Has A Plan

39In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be^g a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”  Luke 1:39-45
This stood out today as I read this. I have often heard that babies are aware of a lot of things in their surroundings even before they are born.  To me, it shows that abortion is wrong.  Here the baby John the Baptist who was about six months older than Jesus leaped for joy when the baby Jesus entered the house where he was at. John the Baptist was not yet born and the baby Jesus was barely conceived. I understand that both of these babies were unique. God himself was the father of Jesus and John the Baptist was conceived in the natural way when both parents were advanced in years. There is life already in the womb, and even though it was through the Hol;y Spirit, John recognized his Lord. Every one of our days is known before we are born. We may not be Jesus or John the Baptist but we have a destiny designed by God. We see this in the book of Jeremiah when Jeremiah was called by God in the womb. I recently wrote a post about the Saint of Auschwitz, and even there the same thing, even as a child he knew God had a plan for his life. They had choices they could make, even Jesus near his end asked if the cup could be passed from him, he knew what was ahead, but submitted to God the Fathers will and went through the crucifixion so that we might find the grace of salvation today. Most of us do not have as grand a plan laid out for us as these two did.  Not many of us will even be remembered as the Saint of Auschwitz after our life is over. Yes, there are the Billy Graham, Billy Sunday, Martin Luther King, Martin Luther and so many other great names that we remember long after their deaths. Still, for each of us, God has a plan for our lives and knows it before we are born.  In the Old Testament, there was an evil King that was king for only seven days. Even though he was evil, he fulfilled a part of God's plan. I think his name was Zimri, and his kingship was a mere seven days. God has a plan for each of us.  One wonders if some of those early abortions could have been a scientist that God had wanted to bring a cure for Corona-virus. I don't know if Trumps's presidency will be for two terms or not, but God knows, and the rest of us will find out in the next few months. The economy may be destroyed by the November election, but if it is God's will Trump will still be president. If it is God's will Joe Biden will be president and I say God help us all. God is a sovereign God and is still in control. I prefer Trump and hope and pray it is not Biden. If Biden, it could be short-lived as was Zimri's term as King.  Biden already has a serious case of dementia and is not capable. Or should we call him Senator Obiden if he wins? Sorry about the politics, I have an opinion about both Trump and Biden and just can't keep it to myself. Only God really knows what will transpire in the next few months. Christians could be taken out of here even before the next election. No one knows the day nor the hour, but God only. Whatever happens, we need to be ready to meet God at any time.    God bless, LVZ.

Check It Out

Sometimes I write from memory and I get it wrong. I am trying to do better. So I try to check things out, at least sometimes, I am trying to get better. Someone I follow said they read the Bible through from cover to cover every quarter. I thought how is that possible?  I have been reading the Bible from cover to cover and I started in the fall of 2018 and am still in the Old Testament and am now in the second month of 2020. So I divided up the chapters in the Bible and divided by 90 days. 1189 divided by 90 equals 13.2111.... At thirteen chapters a day it can be done. I read 7 chapters this morning in about 15 minutes.  So it is not an impossible task, I don't know how much I would glean from it reading it like that. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter of the Bible. Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter of the Bible and is also the middle chapter. It took me less than 15 minutes to read the longest chapter of the Bible. At the worst-case scenario, it could take me three hours a day to read through the Bible in 90 days. It is easy to watch 3 hours of TV, or surf Facebook for 3 hours a day. It is possible. Young Jewish boys would memorize the first 5 books of the Bible. A lot of it depends on our commitment. I had a deacon say in a Sunday School class that Mohammed was mentioned in the Bible. I immediately questioned that statement and when I went home checked it out in a Concordance.  It is not there. A concordance will give you every location of the word "I". But Mohammed was not there. I recently read something that the Babylon Bee said. They are a satirical site, so you cannot take at face value what they say. But sometimes we do. AOC says we cannot pick ourselves up by our bootstraps it is an impossibility, It is a joke.  But we can, it is a meaning of that saying. Hard work and determination you can pull yourself out of poverty. Hard work and determination you can do just about anything you put your mind to. Someone said when talent fails, hard work works. But it will feel like you are trying to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. It can be done, but it requires determination and hard work.  You have to exercise more and eat less. It takes determination. You can climb Mt Rainier but it takes hard work and determination to do it. And a few mountain climbing tools. It can be done. A 12-year-old Jewish boy can memorize the first five books of the Bible, it can be done but it takes work. Many years ago I think I heard the average person uses only about 14% of their brain. ( I checked that out and found out that statement is not true, I wonder how many times I have repeated that). We have a lot more potential than we use. I could be a millionaire with the right determination. It would be easier to be a bum on the street.  Others have succeeded without anyone believing in them. If we had someone in our corner cheering us on, we can do it. It is possible, it just not easy. They had a saying on the job work smarter not harder. Perhaps there is an answer if we seek it out, an impossibility one way can be accomplished another way. We can accept AOC's words as gospel, others will try to prove her wrong. God bless, LVZ.

Who Is Really Important

I think the Corona Virus shows who is really important in our society. Doctors and Nurses need to stay on the job, Police officers, Fire Fighters need to stay on the job. But our heroes in the sports field, on the TV are shown to be non-essential.  Our grocery store workers are important. Restaurants are halfway in between, they have cut back but are still able to do drive-up window service or curbside service but have still laid off many waitresses and servers.  Then even doctors are stopping elective surgeries.  Dr Phil is doing his program from his man cave. In a way, he is still serving because he is addressing this crisis. What we see are music and sports and movie heroes, we can live without. It reminds me of the scripture: Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, Matthew 20:26. Some of our greatest heroes are servants in some way. God bless, LVZ.

Barabbas

6Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. 7And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. 8And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. 9And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 10For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. 11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. 12And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” 13And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” 15So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged^a Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.  Mark 15:6-15 bbb
Here in this chapter, we read about the crucifixion of Jesus.  Probably the cruelest form of capital punishment there ever was. They had a custom to release a prisoner for this Passover feast. Don't know why but the scripture says it was a custom. But at the urging of the chief priests, they shouted to release Barabbas. Barabbas was a murderer. If you read a few lines down two robbers were crucified with Jesus. Why wouldn't common sense dictate to release a prisoner of a lesser crime than a murderer? The mob did not use common sense. I think our mobs today are much the same, they don't think things through. We see it in the public today, we get riled up about something because of the urging of leaders. The Democratic leaders hate Trump simply because he won. It is anything Trump does is bad. I don't think people are thinking this through. Should it really matter what party a leader is from if he or she is doing the right things?  This crazy virus is spreading and often we don't understand how. President Trump was called xenophobic for closing the borders early, then later he is criticized for doing too little too late.  Which is it? Trump was right again in his actions and is trying hard to use all our resources to fight this war.  He has daily briefings on this virus, it really is a war against an unseen enemy. He is becoming more popular because people see a President that really cares for his country and has been saying many of the right things from the beginning. He makes a mistake or two, he is not perfect. Now some on the left want the Corona-virus briefings to stop. Not because they are not needed but it is making President Trump even rise higher in the polls. Let us think this through. I for one am glad President Trump is President, he seems to have an insight that is right on most of the time. The left attacks him for everything.  First for shutting down the borders too early then for not taking action soon enough. In New York and I don't remember if it was the governor of the state or the mayor of the city that said all their efforts are worth it if one life is saved. Really, how many lives will be destroyed because of the economy to save the life of one elderly person that probably has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel? In a war, tough decisions are made knowing some lives sacrificed here will save more lives later. It is not about one life but that the majority could be saved. That is leadership and they are not easy decisions. Let us pray for our President and he makes decisions that will impact us all.  God bless, LVZ.

My Thoughts On China Virus

Yes, I am calling it the China Virus, just one of several names:  Covid-19, Wuhan Virus, Coronavirus. I think political correctness is getting out of hand.  Chinese food is OK, but to use the word China with the virus is somehow racist. Going to a store is a nightmare, why after a week or more of buying essentials like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and other needs like that are the shelves still cleared out of these items. You would think the hoaders would have a year's supply by now.  Who is going to need that much bathroom tissue if we have nothing to eat? A Sam's club worker said they are also buying generators and freezers. I learned something, people have been freezing milk before when they found it on sale.  A gun shop said he sold 31 guns in one day which is about normal for a week for him, along with ammo and other related items. To me, this is like insanity.  I really don't understand why. I went to an auction outdoors, it would have been canceled if they had known the conditions we are now in a week earlier. It was shut down by the mayor probably towards the end of it. I had already left. I felt it was safe because I didn't really have to get close to anyone. But perhaps like so many others, I am not taking this seriously enough even though bombarded several times a day with the latest Cornavirus news. We have been through Swine flu, Y2K, Aids and so many other things that were worse in some ways with the number of cases and deaths. But my understanding is  Covid-19  spreads so much easier than former viruses and is deadly to older people my age or older with other negative medical conditions. A church in Arkansas has something like 30 to 34 members and staff with corona-virus. They know they got it at a weekend children's event they held, but they have not been able to backtrack it to how it got to the event. It sounds like people with mild symptoms can be carriers and not know it thereby spreading it to the more vulnerable. Churches are shut down as far as mass meetings and are learning to use Facebook and other ways to reach their congregations. The first week it was just the larger churches but then the recommendation came down to limit all groups larger than 10. That affects almost every church there is. A good thing is larger churches that already have media tools set up are making their facilities available to the smaller churches that do not have those resources. I have been in conflict because of the group I have organized, First Step Prayer has since its beginning been smaller than ten people. What do I do if more than ten people show up?  The next meeting is to be on the school grounds, so it will be easy to separate into groups under ten if more than ten show up.  How long will this last, will this crisis show the need for prayer and will this group grow larger and will I have to formulate some other plans? Maybe the virus will be on the downturn by June so if I meet at the school in April and in May I am thinking of Social Distancing Prayer by gathering in groups of two or three at the four corners of the main intersection in town. I know other states are worse. We need to pray, we need God's intervention. God bless, LVZ.

Stay Awake

35Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows,^c or in the morning— 36lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”  Mark 13: 35-37 
We are told to stay awake in Mark 13. In this chapter, we are told about Christ's return, the many things that will be a sign of his return. We speculate about it and have for years. But Jesus tells us even he does not know the actual precise moment of his return. Only God the Father himself knows where it is marked on a calendar.  We can know the season, and many believe it is close.  When I was a kid in Bismark N.D. we attended a small church. We moved away from that area when I was 11 years old. So perhaps this happened after I was 10 or 11.  I was the only kid my age in that church. So for Sunday School, they put me with the teenagers.  On this particular Sunday, our Sunday School lesson was on the Second Coming of Christ. It could have been on this very chapter, but I don't remember what scriptures the lesson was using. But what sticks in my mind as the teacher and the students were discussing this lesson, one teenager said he did not think the 1965 cars would come out before Christ returned. I guess as teenagers boys would always be interested in the next year's new cars and we would look forward to seeing what they would look like. Was it a year or two ahead? Anyway, I remember that particular statement and anytime this subject comes up. That was a long time ago, at least 55 years ago.   And we are still waiting. I remember as a child it was those sermons we would get excited about and it seems you could get a few Amens for a sermon about the Second Coming. Sometimes we call it the rapture of the Saints. We even discuss calling this time the Second Coming because some say Christ will not even set foot on earth but will gather the Christians away. We are told to stay awake, meaning to keep watching and stay prepared. We remember the story of the wise and foolish virgins that were waiting for their Lord's return. At midnight the shout came out and some refilled their lamps and others were not prepared. It was too late to go and get provisions. We are instructed to stay awake, we are to stay prepared. Waiting for Christ's return. Even though it has bee 55 years and we now see the 2020 model cars in the showrooms we are told to stay awake. It will come suddenly, it could be evening, or at midnight, or early morning when the rooster unexpectedly crows.  Don't be asleep meaning unprepared. Don't leave any unfinished business, you won't have time to take care of it. So how do we be prepared? We must have our name written in the book of life. It must be on record in heaven that we have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. We must have our sins forgiven. I remember a preacher one time talking about this, everyone wants to leave here, no one wants to live and witness to others. There will be trials and tribulations but we must be ready.  Plan like your living forever but live like your leaving tomorrow. I don't know if I will live to be 100 but if I do I must still be ready. Be awake, be prepared, have your suitcase packed and ready to go. But live and keep telling the story, so others will be awake and ready to go. Don't be weary in well-doing. Keep ready, keep awake, when we least expect it, Christ will return. One day God the Father will turn to Jesus and say it is time to go.  Bring my children home.  Stay awake, it hs not happened yet, when you see these signs listed in this chapter it is very near. The disciples have been asleep for centuries and they had been watching.  I don't know if that teenager that didn't think the 1965 cars would show up in the automobile showrooms is still alive. But stay awake, it is not very far away. Don't go selling your home or quit your job and go standing on a hilltop looking, just be ready, be prepared, be awake with your sins forgiven. God bless, LVZ.

Bombarded Daily

The last few months have been crazy. We are bombarded daily with media and Facebook and Twitter articles on Corona-virus. We hear how there will be fewer lives lost per this new virus than the normal flu, or even accidents or cancer. We see the numbers of people being killed in Chicago and even the abortion numbers are higher. But this 24/7 saturation of Corona-virus is taking its toll on all of us. We see the hoarding of important things in the store, and we hear the stories of the store clerk asking someone what they are buying all that stuff for, and the one old lady didn't know, her neighbor told her she needed it. Our President tries to reassure us that we will get through this and prosper once again. Then he is attacked for giving us false hope. Yet Presidents have run their campaigns to get elected on Hope.  Finally, I read one article that referred to Job 14:5  You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.  Job 14:5 (NLT). And here is Matthew 6:27;  Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?  I copied once again from the New Living Translation.  We are fearful but death comes for each of us sooner or later and we do not always get to choose. It is still in God's hands and no matter what you do you cannot add to your life only God can. That doesn't mean we will not suffer the consequences of a careless lifestyle. God already knows how we live life, he has seen every one of our days. God did grant Hezekiah 15 more years because he asked but still it is God that numbers our days.  So be careful, obey civil authority but trust in a sovereign God and pray for the President. This really is like wartime and he needs our prayers. The decisions he makes can affect us all, it doesn't matter if you are liberal or conservative. Pray for our President, we are indeed in a war with a virus. An unseen enemy that is taking lives daily. But although we don't understand this virus and don't yet have a cure, God is still on his throne in the heavens and you cannot add a single minute with worry. But God can, he is the giver and taker of life. So Christians remember this has not taken God by surprise, he knew this before you were born.  God knew this was coming when he gave us Trump for our President and I am one that is thankful for President Trump and his leadership.  In spite of all the attacks, he remains strong. Thank God and continue to pray for our President. I believe a lot of attacks are the same old stuff anything Trump is bad. Even though he shut down our borders early and did so many things to minimize the deaths of Americans, he still gets criticized 24/7.  You can survive this virus and die of something else before this virus is over.  God bless America and God bless President Trump.    God bless, LVZ. 

Family is Important

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.  Mark 10:29-30
We love our families and I am not sure I totally understand what God is saying here in this verse.  I have a busted relationship in my life. Actually, I look and I can see more than one relationship that is broken in my life. I can't really say that I left them for the gospel, I'm not a preacher or a missionary. But I have taken a stand in my life that puts me at odds at times with others. Perhaps part of it is I am not good at relationships.  Perhaps some think I am radical in my Christianity. Maybe in that way, I have left family behind, because I talk about Christianity almost daily in this blog. Sometimes it is political but even that has a Biblical base behind it much of the time. Abortion is one of those political areas, that I feel my view is based on scripture. All life belongs to God, it is his alone to take a life. I am against abortion. Capital punishment is another subject that belongs to the courts and civil authority that God honors.  Often I think I have distanced myself because of my beliefs. My beliefs are strong. We live in a world that believes there are many ways to God. I believe there is just one way, through Jesus Christ. These strong beliefs put me at odds with the unbelieving.  I remember I use to have a strong bond with my first father-in-law through our common religious beliefs. Years ago when this broken relationship with Children really bothered me, I was praying about it as Fathers Day approached. A young girl in her teens that I had helped by buying school clothes and taking her to see her mother in prison, called me and asked if she could go to church with me on Fathers Day. This girl never knew her father. She is still on my prayer list today.  It meant a lot to me and this scripture came to mind. I felt like God had heard my prayers for my children. Even though I had broken relationships after divorce God heard my prayer and understood the hurt that I felt. I am not saying I was a perfect parent, as years go by I realize more and more my imperfections as a parent.  Do you know King David of the Bible was a terrible parent, he had an affair and then arranged to have the husband of the woman killed?    A few weeks ago on a Sunday morning, I was substituting for an active deacon during the offering time. I was going up the center aisle of the church taking up the offering when this 6-year-old boy sitting more towards the center of that row of seats came past the people in that row to the aisle to give me a hug.  It touched me, I felt like once again God was saying I have heard your prayers.  Then last Sunday online as me and Barbara were listening on Facebook and sometimes we just comment to let others know we are listening. This same young boy and his brother both had there mother comment they wanted to give me a hug. Once again it touched me because I know I have broken relationships that I can do nothing about. I have a son that has contacted me probably 3 times in 30 years.  It's a broken relationship that I have prayed about for 30 years.  But every once in a while I feel God gives me a reminder that he hears my prayers. That particular relationship is still broken. I think what touched me is the age of this boy, at that age I felt I had a good relationship with my son. A parent doesn't stop being a parent when kids are grown. A few years back I chastised my son for his language he was using on Facebook and have been blocked. One of the last telephone calls was when his grandmother on his maternal side passed away and he instructed me that I had no business coming to the memorial service.  I had a good relationship with my inlaws up and even beyond the divorce from their daughter.  The last time I saw my father-in-law alive, he looked at me and said "I had to add fifty pounds to recognize you", as I stood at his door. Barbara and I had a good visit with my ex-father-in-law. His last words to me, "if you have any unfinished business take care of it,"  and we prayed together. It wasn't long after that he passed away. Sometimes we lose family because of the stand we take as Christians and it can't be helped. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18.  We must try on our part to be at peace to fix relationships if we can, but there are always two sides to a relationship. I am an imperfect Christian, in fact, I don't know a perfect one. They are all on the other side of eternity.  They were found perfect in Christ at the end of their journey here below as my father-in-law was.  God bless, LVZ.

Personaity Types

In a book I am reading it was talking about personality types, the DiSC system. On one page it was talking about how people react to the same situation differently because of their personality type. I certainly didn't know about this DiSC system when raising my children. They have different personalities. They will react differently to the same situation.  As I thought about this many times children feel they are treated differently than a sibling. I guess it is really true, not only are their differences in personalities, but even boys and girls are different. Even though I didn't know about the DiSC system and really still don't, I had the thought yes I probably did treat my kids differently from each other. It made sense to me that I would be considering different personalities and genders.  Can you imagine in our crazy world today when they talk about 100s of genders? The sociologists and others that study people may be aware of the personality types and the different ways people react based on their personalities. But parents do not spend years in college knowing all this stuff before they have kids. They just try to do the best they know with what they know and often it is based a lot on the way they were raised. I guess my thinking and my writing today is to defend myself and my lack of parenting abilities when I was raising kids. Would I have done any better knowing this stuff? No way to really know anyway.  I think a lot of parenting is on the job training, and we make mistakes, hopefully, we learn from our mistakes. I certainly didn't know of these basic personality types but I did know my kids had different personalities from each other. So considering all this is it even possible to raise kids the same and not differentiate in some manner, especially between girls and boys.  Those are my thoughts on this as I was reading about these different personality types.  My hope is someday my kids will forgive me for the inadequate job I did raising two of God's greatest gifts. They deserved better than what they received as did so many other kids in our messed-up world. I love my kids and did the best I knew at the time. I had two kids before my 23rd birthday, I was still practically a kid myself.   I certainly didn't know a lot but I loved them. Even today with Grandkids I tend to be impatient. I am thankful for a loving God that loves us just as we are.  God bless, LVZ.

A Difficult Day

Do you ever have a difficult day?  When at the end of the day you reflect on it, do you remind yourself that you are God's child and he made you just as you are?  Do you contemplate that God knew even this day from your very start? Do you recognize that your sovereign God is still in control and nothing takes Him by surprise? Even this Coronavirus and the chaos surrounding it has not taken God by surprise.  He knew this before we were born and is still in control.  Perhaps it is this crisis that God gave us Trump as our President to lead us at this time.  When we went through 911, we had another good leader in place. I thank God for these men. Even though the valleys God is there, leading us on. We do not always live on the mountain tops but we go through valleys from time to time and in this valley, I am so thankful for Trump. He has seemed to have an instinct to do the right thing time and again and even though criticized at the time, when we get through it just like shutting down our borders early, Trump was right. I am so thankful that Trump is our President. As bad as this Cornavirus is, it could have been much worse without the right leadership and for that, we should be thankful.  God bless, LVZ.

Reading Through The Bible

Over a year ago I wanted to read through the Bible from cover to cover.  I don't remember when exactly I started, but I was already in the book of Numbers in November of 2018. Here it is the end of December 2019 and I have not finished Ezekiel.  I try to write in my blog every day and when  I was reading Old Testament Prophets I thought how am I going to find something to write about when half the time I don't understand the prophecies I am reading. Sometimes I would just find a verse or two that triggered a memory of some other verse. Sometimes I would get a thought and I would just write a title hoping later I would remember my train of thought. But it seems I never run out of something to write about even though I wasn't sure what to say about some of these prophecies. They all seemed to be pointing to God wanting his people to return to him. I asked God to show me my wicked ways as I read 2 Chronicles 7:14, it seems it has never stopped helping to see where I need improvement. First of all, as a Christian, I didn't like the term wicked ways.  So much points back to the heart or the condition of the heart. I know I repeat myself, I write about some subject and then later I see something more on that subject, so I write again. I think one big lesson is we just don't know it all or perhaps even know it incorrectly when we first come to God. I don't feel condemned about my position in Christ or my lack of knowledge, I just see there is more to learn. I believe that is the principle of grace. The Bible affects every area of life or would it be better to say God is concerned about all areas of life. He is concerned about our emotional, physical, mental and not just our spiritual health. Often I get political, Well, God has a lot to say about that. Christians are supposed to be spiritual beings and not be concerned about politics like politics is too dirty for Christians to be involved. It may be dirty but we are still supposed to use Godly principles in all areas of life. Some of our work can be in the darkest of areas of life. A lot of Old Testament was about rulers that didn't follow God's ways and the consequences of their actions. It can be very political. I have a book I am reading "The Blessed Life" and it seems I read a few pages and have to put it down. I am also reading "Beyond Blessed" and the same thing, I read a few pages and need to put it down. Much of what I am dealing with is pointing to God is enough. I feel I could write a post of gratefulness, God is enough, what he has given us is enough. We need to be grateful if we have more than others or less than others, what God has given us is enough. I could point to the story of the lord of the harvest where he paid the same wages to those that came early or late to the harvest, it was God's to give in the first place. We do not need to compare ourselves to others but only be concerned with what God thinks.  Even though I thought this would be a difficult year reading the Bible cover to cover, I feel like God has just simply blest the effort. Even though I didn't understand it all, it is like my understanding has expanded anyway. God is enough. I feel I will do this again, I feel I have learned more this year just because I read the inspired word of God even though I thought I don't understand this.  Anyway, I have a long way to go. At first, I wanted to finish in a year and then sometimes I would just stop at one chapter and didn't want to be in no hurry. God can speak to us in so many ways by just having a relationship with him. Relationship, reading his word and hoping to hear from him as we talk to him, walk with him daily. God bless, LVZ.

Even the Wind And The Sea Obey

41Overwhelmed with fear, they asked one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” Mark 4:41
We are living in fearful times. some things just do not make sense. Coronavirus is a respiratory disease. Why are the stores empty of toilet paper? Why are we hoarding toilet paper? Our fears are irrational. I understand that we need to take this seriously and as hard as it is sometimes, we need to be obedient to the civil authorities as they try to get a handle on this new disease. But why is the public hoarding toilet paper? It is not like everyone is getting diarrhea, there is an irrationality to this fear.  One thing we can know and take comfort in, this has not taken God by surprise. The God that knows every one of our days before we are born, knew this was coming in the lives of those that lost their lives to the Coronavirus. God can end this as quickly as it started. But as I look into my own life, how is this fear affecting me. Do I trust in a sovereign God or am I looking to the government to fix this. We are putting thousands out of work and it is affecting the economy. Children out of school, we are afraid. Is our hope really in a sovereign God? I have to ask myself this question as I try to obey the restrictions of the civil government. The Government cannot fix this storm, but God can. The President did the right thing in calling this nation to prayer. Do we trust in horses and chariots or in the name of the Lord our God? Jesus can calm even this storm just as he calmed the raging sea and winds on that sea so long ago. Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey him. Peace be still, be in our hearts and lives during this season of fear. Help us to put our trust in a sovereign God. The God that can calm the storms in our lives. The God that can calm angry seas and winds. We trust in the name of the Lord our God. God bless, LVZ.

New Names

I am not sure where I really stand on this. It seems A Dickenson N.D. team has the name Midgets. They say it is derogatory to a group of people that are short that we describe as a midget.  I once jokingly told my father-in-law that seeing as how he came from Texas and everything in Texas was bigger, he was a Texas Midget. He had a sense of humor and told people about his son-in-law calling him a Texas Midget.  I liked my father-in-law and we got along good. I don't feel he was insulted by my joke. In a community that is 70% black and about 30% white, I use the descriptor black man or white man often and don't feel it is derogatory. Maybe I am not as sensitive as I need to be. The same article told about a team name change for the University of North Dakota from Fighting Sioux to Fighting Hawks. A name is a manner of pride and many schools are extremely proud of their teams, so I am not sure I buy that this name Midget is offensive no more that I thought the Fighting Sioux was offensive or derogatory in any way. Now I do think the Mississippi State Flag is offensive and would like to see that changed to take the confederate symbol off of the flag. The confederate symbol needs to be put in a museum, as it was in South Carolina.  I understand it is a symbol that many of our soldiers fought under during the civil war. But that symbol does remind me of the days of slavery that the south fought to keep. We don't fly the British flag, we fought a war with them. We fought the French and don't fly their flag, we fought Mexico and don't fly their flag so I believe the confederate symbol does need to go to a museum, it is part of our history, a sad part. Like I say I am not sure about the name Midgets for a  sports team being derogatory. I think this name changing has gotten silly. Just my opinion, with my opinion and a dollar I can buy a cup of coffee, probably not at Starbucks but at other locations. God bless, LVZ

New Challenges

Every business, every church, every home, every family in our nation is being affected by what is happening now in our country with this Coronavirus. As I was praying this morning and thinking about the next First Step Prayer meeting in a couple of weeks, we need God's help. I didn't know when I first started this if this was just Leon thinking. I am more convinced than ever that we need to be on our knees before a sovereign God asking for direction and help. The Church needs to be in the lead to seeing to the needs of our people. I received several calls this week from Church members seeing if we have any needs. The Church needs to be leading in a time like this, this is affecting everything. Our restaurants are shut down, our schools are shut down, many businesses are shut down or at least reevaluating the way they do business.  People will be hurting quickly if there is no income coming in. The First Step is Prayer to a sovereign God. God help us.  God bless, LVZ.

Without Faith

. 4And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 5And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6And he marveled because of their unbelief. Mark 6:4-6
Jesus grew up in Nazareth, the people in that little village had seen Jesus grow up from a child. He must have been a normal child in many ways. They knew who his brothers and sisters were. If you think about it, they were his half brothers and sisters, so here again, even in Jesus, we see a blended family.  I wonder if Jesus' physical traits were different from his brothers and sisters that they knew he had a different father.  I know in Barbara's family, one sister had a different father and this sister had different facial features and even in her home town many people knew who her father was.  So if we face difficulties because of blended families for whatever reason, know this Jesus is familiar with that also. Many of the townspeople did not believe in Jesus as the Christ. Because of this lack of faith, lack of belief in him, Mark says he could do no mighty works there. There were still a few that Jesus was able to heal, maybe they were not that familiar with Jesus's own family and believed in him. I am just speculating because I wasn't there, I am just looking at these words and thinking about them. Jesus marveled at their unbelief. So it is today if we do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, God seems to be hampered to do the healing in our lives that is needed. We do see in Galatians 1:19 that James the brother of Jesus is mentioned. So even later on at least one of Jesus's family was a believer. We have heard the story of the woman that just touched the hem of Jesus' garment and was healed. That woman believed in Jesus and her need was met. So we see that it takes believing in Jesus that he was the Christ for many works to be performed. There was the Centurion that came to Jesus and asked for healing for his daughter, and he told Jesus, you don't need to come, just say the word and I know it will be done. Jesus mentioned his great faith. Jesus could just speak the word and it would be done.  Here in Mark 6, we read about Jesus walking on the water and speaking to the wind and the waves and they obeyed and calmed at the command of Jesus. At about age 4 or 5 I once tried to light a campfire in the dry grass behind the garage that Dad had built in Bismark N.D.  An older kid for whatever reason had shown me how to stack up little sticks to light a campfire and I thought I would try this close to the back of the garage near a large field of dry grass. I don't remember if I was successful but I think I might have been because Dad found me. Perhaps Dad was doing something in the garage and suddenly smelled grass burning and went to investigate. I wonder what things Jesus did as a normal child that might have caused the people to not believe he was the Christ?  Some Christians had some bad behavior before they came to faith, and sometimes we remember their former life and wonder can this be. Did the townspeople also see this kid that had different facial features than his other brothers and sisters? It is believed that Jesus was between two and four years old when his family returned from Egypt to live in Nazareth. We are told very little about Jesus up until about 30 years of age.  So many people around the region thought Jesus to be a great prophet except in his home town of Nazareth.  I know at age 11 the story is told of Jesus being found in the temple explaining scripture. I really don't know what the reason for their unbelief was but it hindered Jesus from doing miracles.  I remember Big Bob an alcoholic that used to live on Hillbilly hill south of Arlington, WA. Once years later I met him at an AA meeting and it was such a drastic difference to see this former alcoholic who was now a deacon in his church and leading an AA recovery group.  God changes lives when we believe in him. Both Mary and Joseph knew they had been given a unique child to raise, he was the son of God.  But up until age 30 when Jesus began his earthy ministry, I suspect he had a somewhat normal childhood. I wonder if I could have been a better parent if I had viewed my children as a gift from God, with a responsibility to raise them right. Did Joseph and Mary understand from the start the horrific things Jesus would face to die for our sins? We need to develop our faith in Jesus the one who died for our sins and believe in him to be changed into the image of our Heavenly Father.  And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.  Hebrews 11:6  God bless, LVZ.

A Crooked Picture Frame

In recent days, Christians were criticized for supporting Trump. We were called hypocrites for supporting our President. If we look at Bible characters we will find dysfunctional people in almost every story. God uses flawed people, If he didn't he would be doing everything himself. My pastor just talked about some counseling he went through some time back from a more experienced pastor/counselor. His counselor told him to take the best picture on a wall in his house and make it crooked so he would be reminded every time he looked at it that God uses flawed people. Moses killed an Egyptian and fled into the wilderness. Joseph who was his daddy's favorite probably had some issues with knowing he was the best-loved of all his brothers. His brothers sold Joseph into slavery to get rid of him. God used him as a slave and even in prison to develop a flawed Joseph to the point he came second in command in Egypt. Often God uses people as he fixes them. This fixing people is a life long process. I know I have said this many times but no one woke up the morning after becoming a Christian and knew the Bible from cover to cover. We are flawed. The people that criticized Trump or even all of our other presidents, I wonder if they ever look into their own hearts.
King David was just a teenager when he was anointed king, but God worked in him a long time and even after he was finally sitting on the throne, he committed adultery and had the woman's husband killed in battle. It is in the Bible. Every time you see a crooked picture frame remember God uses flawed people. Rahab a prostitute was used by God. Solomon was used by God. You can find name after name of people God used in the Bible and I am pretty sure you will never find a perfect person. So criticize all you want, it doesn't bother me to be called a hypocrite, because I already know I am flawed. I am saved by grace, not my works. God bless, LVZ.

A Light In The Darkness

“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.  Luke 8:16
A Light in the Darkness, that is what the church is to be. We are in a time when we need to shine brightly.  Our families are under attack, our nation is under attack. This Coronavirus has affected us in new ways as we see the government restricting larger gatherings. Not just the churches, but we see the professional sports events affected. Schools are shut down for a short period. This is a time when the CHurch needs to shine brightly. I remember the sign as you left the parking lot at CFAN in Tacoma that said: "you are now entering the mission field".  We see many conversions inside our church buildings but the majority of what the church does is outside the walls of the church. When we supply the needs of others around us, when we visit the sick and meet the needs of the hungry, many times it is outside the walls of the church. Most of the time Jesus was doing his work outside of the walls of the temple. There were times he taught inside the temple and I believe he healed a withered hand in the synagog in Luke 6 but the majority of the time it was outside the walls of the synagog. On a hillside, he fed 5000 and 4000 men plus women and children.  The man that had a legion of demons and when Jesus drove them out and the demons entered a herd of pigs, that was outside.  I wonder if God is driving us outside the walls in this present time to shine in the darkness around us? This is not a time to hide our lights but to shine brightly in the darkness around us. These are dark times and people are fearful. We have hope in a sovereign God, we know we will get through this chaos just fine whatever happens when our faith and our trust is in a sovereign God. There are so many around us that are hurting at this time. This has never happened before where a virus has shut down so much of our country.  People are not flying, it is hurting not only the airlines, but it will affect companies like Boeing that has already gone through difficulties. Our restaurants and workers are hurting. What to know what socialism is like look at our stores, the empty shelves.  That is the same view seen on a daily basis in socialist countries all the time. The fear is our hospitals will be overloaded and not able to handle the sick ones. The care in socialist countries is not better than ours. We see our government responding with MASH type military medical facilities. That has not happened in socialist countries that I know of.  This is the time for the Church to respond outside the doors and meet the needs they come across as individual Christians., God help us to meet this challenge head-on.  Help us to be the light that is needed in these dark times. People need to know a sovereign God that knew this was coming before it happened. God is still up there ready to help us if we will but ask. Our President did the right thing in calling for the nation to pray.  Prayer is the First Step going forward. In the light of the SON, this virus will be conquered. They expect as the sun warms us up to over 80 degrees this virus will go away. So let us also warm up to the challenge ahead of us. Let us continue to pray to a sovereign God for our needs and the needs of this nation.   God bless, LVZ.

Cleaning The Inside

23“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

25“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

27“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 23:23-28

Cleaning the inside of ourselves is what God is looking for. There are none of us without sin, none of us are perfect. I have seen this in my own heart wanting to look good on the outside and not dealing with the sin on the inside. So what is Jesus talking about here? We have neglected the weightier matters of the law. Justice and mercy and faithfulness seem to be more important than tithing. I remember as a kid, I saw many gardens with a little bit of dill planted in the midst of the garden. It was almost like a weed that cropped up but it was wanted for seasoning. It wasn't the main planting in the garden. There would have been beets, carrots, and many other vegetables in large numbers but the dill was small in number. It appears to me when they were tithing on dill it was a small thing meant to be seen by others on their adhering to the law. We have been told in the word if we do things to be seen of men, we already have our reward. Our reward is just that to be seen by men. God is wanting to work on the inside of our hearts. God wants correct attitudes: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. As I mention the word justice, I think of the six-year-old that was killed several years ago in a neighboring county getting off her school bus in her front yard. The little girl was run over by a driver that went around the school bus on the right side, the curbside of the bus. The driver has never been charged with a crime even though the driver killed a six-year-old girl. We have problems locally with justice but we want to fix Washington. We want to fix climate change, we look good but are we really doing something good when we address something big like climate change for the whole world. Yet in our backyard, a little girl has not received justice. Something is wrong but I wonder if we need to fix local issues maybe even our own hearts before we tackle the world. I really think that is how we fix the world, changing culture by fixing one heart at a time. Mercy, do we want mercy or justice? I received mercy the other day when I got a warning instead of the speeding ticket I deserved. I was doing 54 in a 30. Do we extend the same mercy we received towards others? Many times when we ask for justice, what we really want is mercy. We have all sinned. Faithfulness, is that doing the right thing day after day when it seems to go unnoticed? The Pharisees wanted to be noticed for all their good deeds but were unwilling to deal with heart issues. God wants us to be faithful, even when it seems we don't get the recognition we think we deserve. God sees and our reward will be in heaven.
I believe God is working on hearts, day after day when it seems nothing is happening. Justice, mercy and faithfulness, weightier matters of the law, what does that really mean? Are we looking on the inside?   God bless, LVZ.

Godly Principles Matter

22And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.  Mark 3:22-27
It seems like in an election year I have such a difficult time staying away from politics. I read this scripture and I am thinking about our politics in this country. This scripture points out the hypocrisy in our nation today and I think it also points out how we can save this country by converting one person at a time to Christianity. Without the moral values given to us in scripture, this country will fail. And we are seeing it happen before our very eyes. It may seem little things. One thing is the Democrats the party that is suppose to be so inclusive is excluding a woman candidate for President from their debates. Why? Their hatred for Donald Trump overrides any sense of fairness. They change the rules for their debates at a whim. Before Super Tuesday Tulsi would have been included in their debates but then they changed the rules to exclude her. But remember the democrats are the party of inclusion. They could have kept their rules the way they were and included her. Honesty and fairness, Biblical concepts are thrown out the window. They (democrats) give illegals the right to vote. According to our constitution, illegals do not have the right to vote. They change the rules when they feel it will help them. Our national house is divided against itself and will not stand. Our system of government works with honest people. Ballot harvesting, where someone is allowed to collect votes in a nursing home and carry them to a ballot precinct. In LA county which has bee a conservative stronghold for a long time allowed ballot harvesting. Guess what a conservative candidate was ahead by 5,000 votes and after the ballots that were harvested were counted, he lost by about 800 votes. No one can vouch for the accuracy of what happened to those votes from the time they left the nursing homes and appeared at the precinct. The harvesters were democrats, somehow traditional conservative voters ended up voting for leftist and changed the outcome via harvested votes. And if you are a democrat, you are OK with this because the end result is your side wins. It appears dishonest. Only that democrat that carried the votes from the nursing homes to the precinct really knows what happened for sure. Honesty really doesn't matter anymore. The end result of my side winning at all costs is more important. It may not seem like a big deal if your side wins, but I guarantee if a republican was responsible for similar shady dealings the left would go off. Another thing is it is possible to vote in two different states, in a federal election. An honest person would not do that, held morally responsible to a sovereign God.  Voter ID laws have not stopped any legal person from voting, but they have made it harder for illegal voting.  I know a person here in Mississippi that cannot read and write. He has no trouble getting a driver's license. He has a disability because of being illiterate. I know when I sent a money order for him to mow the lawn while I was gone, he got his money. He would rather have had me mail cash but he dealt with it. Having a driver's license to drive and to have one to vote is not a problem for anyone in America. This person was told if Trump won in 2016 he would be deported to Africa and repeated that to me more than once. He is still here collecting his disability and mowing lawns.  To present an ID is a problem if you want to vote illegally. Many counties now have more registered voters than legal voters. If we valued a sovereign God that sees all our dishonest activities, would we not choose honesty?  We may destroy our country from within, our country was designed for a moral people.  I am sure those that benefit from dishonesty don't have a problem with these things until it is too late and our country is destroyed. Politics is not the answer, we need hearts that value a sovereign God. I am sorry, sometimes it seems no matter how hard I try to stay away from politics, it is what is on the forefront of my mind and I see a relationship from what I am reading to the current state of our nation. Our country even our court system depends upon honesty. Tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Godly principles matter and the lack of them will be the downfall of our nation.  God bless, LVZ.

Chaos

I was wondering what would happen last week when I heard the Governor of Washington calling for no large gatherings. I saw a CFAN posting and wasn't sure how they were going to handle this, they are one of the larger congregations in Tacoma. I wondered what will happen if it happens here locally in Mississippi. And it did. Our Governor followed suit. So this morning we are seeing what will happen as our larger churches are facing the same thing. I am getting my answer. Hope Church Tupelo which has an attendance of 500 to 600 on a Sunday, I am not exactly sure of the numbers but it is large enough that we in obedience to civil authority, our Sunday service was shut down. We have live stream via Facebook. I see some differences, the drummer cage was moved to the center of the stage. The worship team is there, the Pastors and probably some of our support staff, which may equal the number in attendance of the churches I grew up in. Right now the live stream is showing 170. I know that when in attendance this number would be larger with all the families. It is comforting to see how the church was prepared ahead of time as we started showing our worship services some years ago on Facebook.  We will come through this storm, this chaos stronger as we do every storm. I was encouraged when our President in response to our present national crisis requested a National Day of Prayer. I know we have had a National Day of prayer for a long time. And in recent years it has been held in May. This one is different because it is in response to the Coronavirus. I am really encouraged to see what is happening and how our church is handling this crisis. Coronavirus is new and it has been spreading rapidly, but think back it is not the first new virus/disease to pass our way. Remember when we first heard about Aids or Ecoli, Swine flu, Bird flu, and so many others. Remember how fearful we were as we approached the year 2000 and the Y2K fears. Nothing happened. We have more deaths each year with the regular flu. But Coronavirus is new. I don't understand why the toilet paper shelves in the store are empty.  But we will get through this. Barbara and I made a choice to distance ourselves with some of our activities because this had already been a rough year with respiratory sickness and feel we would be vulnerable to this new virus if we came in contact with it, we are both in our mid-sixties.  One point I would like to emphasize is that the church is not that building that we meet in every week. It is us, individual Christians doing what we do outside the church building. I miss the gathering together, I really do. I remember the sign I saw when leaving the parking lot at CFAN in Tacoma years ago. It said you are now entering the mission field. This blog is just one little thing I do to be part of the church, by telling my individual story to anyone that will listen. I have tried to get the 12 or so Churches in Verona to meet once a month to pray for our town and our nation.   Our next meeting is April 4th in front of Verona Elementary School at 9:00 AM.  We are more the Church outside the doors of the church building than we are in it and this present crisis is bringing that to the forefront and we can thank God. There will be some good things that will happen because of this crisis, I believe that. God bless, LVZ.

The Night Of My Salvation

I remember the night of my salvation. Put this to the tune of the Tennesse Waltz. I was hurting and so full of confusion when Jesus came and touched me once again. I remember the night of my salvation when Jesus came and touched me once again. I had a song that I sang and I have since forgotten all the words. But I think back to that time and the time leading up to it when Jesus was talking to me. I was so bitter and so full of confusion. I remember one time when Jesus was talking to me in my mind. Its like Jesus said to me, in my mind, not an audible voice. If you think it is so easy being a Christian, why don't you put your money where your mouth is and show how it is done. These words come back to me a lot and I think even now with this blog that is what I am trying to do. Everyone's relationship is different, I can only give a peek into mine. When I have my devotional time or quiet time, whatever you call it, I pray and I read scripture. I want to hear from God. Often I will say like young Samuel, "speak Lord for thy servant is listening". Then I try to write something, either about the word I read or what I am thinking concerning the current events. I tell my story, everyone has a story to tell, and everyone's story is different.  I have learned that being a Christian is really not easy. We struggle with God. The name Israel means to struggle with God.  We Christians are spiritual Israel and we struggle sometimes. We don't understand everything God is doing. We go through a trial and things go wrong in our lives and we say why me Lord? We want everything to go right but it doesn't. Often I find I am reaping the seeds I have sown. It is not a squeaky clean life, we struggle with things. We have questions, why Lord? Sometimes years down the road we look back and there are times we see and say, Ok now I see why. And we are then thankful that God has had his way in our lives, in the midst of our struggles. It has not been a perfect life. It has had ups and downs. Good days and bad. I think of God on the Mountain by Lynda Randle - Lyrics, in fact, that link I just copied is saved on this page and I go back and listen to it now and again like I just did when I copied that link. I save that page so I can go back to it whenever I want. That's all that saved post is, just that link. It blesses me every time I listen. I talk about my struggles on this page and I learn. I am thankful for the journey I have had. I never want to go back to the days before the night of my salvation. I struggle, I still have hard times but its different, o so different now. Jesus is with me through the good times and the bad and it really makes a difference. And I am still trying to show how it's done. At least how it's done in my life. Everyone has a story and each story is different. I am thankful for mine. Growing up I wanted Christians to be perfect and I found they are not, especially in my own life. I don't know anyone's life like I know mine and its not been a perfect existence. But still, when I look back, I am thankful for my journey of faith. I wouldn't trade it, I have found I really need God.
God bless, LVZ.

Is There A Time For Isolation?

Humans were not meant to live in isolation. We were meant to encourage and lift one another up. But are there times when we need to isolate our selves? 35And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. Mark 1:35
We see here where Jesus departed from his disciples and found a desolate place to be alone as he prayed to his Heavenly Father. We are told to enter into a closet to pray, to isolate ourselves. In recent days we have seen where people are to isolate themselves because of having a high fever and this Coronavirus that is passing through our land. These are for short periods of time. To pray in isolation, to separate ourselves because of sickness, but they are not meant to be a permanent condition.  Many times in the gospel we see Jesus withdrawing from the crowd, most of the time it was for a season of prayer.  Perhaps sometimes it was to rest, but then Jesus was back out there ministering to the needy. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.  Matthew 6:6. 
I was thinking in recent days about a story I read. I think it was in New Hampshire where a medical worker had a fever and went to the doctor and had himself checked. Sometimes for certain issues, there are not immediate results.  The doctor told this man to stay in isolation until they got the test results back. The man went to a party for hospital workers that Friday night. The man then finds out a day or so later that he did indeed have the Coronavirus. By not isolating himself he may have infected other hospital workers at that party. It was very selfish on his part. We admonish one another to be faithful in church attendance but sometimes it is a loving thing to stay away from others when we do not feel good.  If we go to work or to school or even to church when not feeling good we can infect others. I see on the news where several states are now limiting gatherings of more than 500 people or even some say 250 people.  Some churches are now making contingency plans on how to deal with this in our current crisis. Our attendance at church has grown over the years to where if this happens in our state we will have to make some sort of plan because we have grown above those numbers.  I think this is showing how important it is to protect our borders, even as a nation it seems we are needing to protect ourselves by limiting and knowing who is coming into our nation. When the temperature rises above 80 degrees this virus will probably disappear but until then we may need to isolate for a short period of time for the health and safety of our friends and family and our nation.  We are not meant to live in isolation permanently but sometimes it is necessary and even desirable for short periods of time.  God bless, LVZ.
Our President called for a National Day of Prayer. Pray for our Nation and our President.

Zimri

Who is Zimri?
15In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. 1 Kings 16:15  Zimri is a king of Israel, as far as I can tell he had the shortest reign of any king. Seven days was the length of his reign. When I see stuff like this in the Bible I wonder why. 
12Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, 13for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols. 1 Kings 16:12-13.
Zimri had all the relatives of Baasha killed. Was that God's only purpose for Zimri?  We have seen God be longsuffering but at other times, God has had enough and God's justice takes place. It makes me wonder where we are in America today. Have we run through God's patience? As it was in the days of Noah, it will be the same in the last days. We have come to the place where some of our states have made laws where a baby that was supposed to be aborted, lives through the abortion and then that baby's life can still be taken. I am not making no prophecy, I don't have that ability. But when I see things like what is happening know with Caronavirus, I wonder if God has finally had enough. There will be an atoning for the blood of innocent deaths. If we fix this virus, will another worse thing then happen?  I don't know, I really don't but I can imagine God has had enough of our baby-killing at over 60 million babies. We get a President who is moving us in the right direction and the country is fighting him, everything he does. I wonder when God says it is enough. This Coronavirus is scaring people. Mississippi was one of the few states that did not have a case of Coronavirus till a day or so and now I think it was six cases almost overnight. The last report I saw was 46 states now have active cases of the virus. If God has had enough would he require 60 million deaths to atone for abortion? If that happened would we wake up? Would America repent? I doubt it, we are so hell-bent on selfish lifestyles that we will kill babies that are inconvenient.  I am not ready for a baby, it will ruin my life. I have goals and purposes for my life. And God has a purpose for every life he creates. Read Jeremiah 1:5. If this Coronavirus keeps spreading and killing people will we take a look inside?  What if 30,000 lives are lost to Coronavirus, I imagine we would think that just terrible but we have killed babies in the 60 million range. The highest report I read has been 61 million. Put that into perspective.  There have been 68 murders in Chicago so far this year, much more than Coronavirus deaths across the country. Are we worried about that? Chicago is just one large city and their murders are more than Coronavirus deaths across the nation. Can we make better choices? We can wash our hands and not touch our face and stay away from infected areas and infected people. But what do we do about abortion and murder in our land? I think it may be time for America to repent. I am not making any predictions. I am just asking questions, what are our biggest fears and do we fear the wrong things? Tim Tebow had John 3:16 written in the shadow under his eyes for a championship game and 94 million people googled it because they did not know what that was. I know without looking it us that it says "for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting life." Not word for word, I did not look it up. But imagine in America today,  94 million Americans googled it because they did not know what it was.  I think it is time for America to repent.  God bless, LVZ.   

Copied from the NIV.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16