Lost coin....Israel 4...

We visited a multitude of diggings and ruins from Byzantine, Canaanite, Crusader, Muslim, various Biblical cities, Christ’s times, Paul’s times, etc. up to present day sites...

The technology and technical work may seem like we have it all right now, but, their man power and skills were amazing...the carvings, the stonework, the pure sizes of these structures were phenomenal...how did they get huge stone work into place??? Lots of man power and skill...

Intricate mosaics lined the floors and sidewalks of the wealthy...rocks lined the floors of the less fortunate....we visited several day to day homes of the common ordinary people...cobblestone or flat rocks or small stones filled in with smaller stones—- lots of variety as there are stones of all shapes and sizes in that land...

I looked at the common house and wondered about the families who once lived there...children playing in the small courtyards or running to meet friends, maybe going to nearby countryside to herd the animals or plant, harvest crops, or artisans sharing their talents with others...day to day living just like today...their voices ringing over the ages...

I imagined the lost coin in those cobbled floors...it would indeed be a cause for rejoicing to find a coin in the many crevices, nooks and crannies found in them...not like the smooth floors of today’s homes...

Thank YOU for the sights and sounds of yesteryear...the words written for our learning and review....the common, ordinary of the past and how it relates to our lives thousands of years later...Your Word is alive, teaching us anew every time we open it and open our hearts to its teachings...

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Luke 15:8-10

It’s the simple things...Israel 3...

It’s the simple things...Israel 3...

I am still decompressing from my amazing trip to Israel...still have 1200 pictures to cleanup, delete or use out of 2000...other things, like doctor visits, company, bill paying, weeding have had to take precedence, but am itching to relive the trip through the pictures again...processing the moments, the emotions, the sights, the sounds, the people....

I wrote down titles as they came to me along the fast paced, drop into bed each night way, knowing that if I was to blog, God would bring to remembrance the words that went with each...discarding the ones that weren’t to be used...

This was one....as I have been asked over and over “ what was the best?”....it was all great...but I keep coming back the the simple things...we saw amazing sights, sites, ruins from thousands of years and a few years, heard amazing singing, brushed shoulders with amazing people...but, simple things caught my heart...

It was finding a shepherd with his sheep in a field deep with flowers and deep green lush grass....simply standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee where fisherman still fish or Jesus fixed a meal of bread and fish....it was looking at the city of Jerusalem, seeing it as Jesus saw it and wept...it was sitting inside a Bedouin tent receiving their hospitality as Abraham might have done for the visitors...it was walking down the narrow streets of the cities surrounded by crowds of people like Jesus did...having communion in the garden under ancient olive trees...seeing a 2000 year old sycamore tree in Jericho where Zacchaeus May have climbed to better see the Savior of the world...walking on ancient stones uncovered  where Jesus may have walked...the dry parched desert of the Engedi where David hide from Saul....seeing the skull in the rock formations on the hill of Golgotha...it was seeing an empty tomb where Jesus may have been laid....none of these worthy of worship...but it was just glimpses of history...written in God’s Word that came alive ....

Jesus was  a real man who came, God walking in the everyday life of mankind...living here to love us, to die and live for us...He came to seek and save the lost...and now He lives, preparing a place for his followers...He walked, talked, healed, taught, loved...in these places...the simple places...His Word is simple and deep...as is His love...the call is plain....Seek...Come...Find...Look...Believe...and you shall be saved...

thank YOU for the simple things....

Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 9:10 

8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Matthew 7:8 

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Luke 19:10

Spring....

Spring....

This  devotional caught my eye recently....and it was worth sharing....the joy of waiting, discovery, beauty, hard work, patience, little eyes....

“How to Biblically Celebrate New Life in the Spring

Bible / Bible Study / Topical Studies / How to Biblically Celebrate New Life in the Spring

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April Motl

 Wednesday, April 11, 2018

“Daffodils!!! Momma look! Daffodils!” These words have been ringing out loudly in our car the last few weeks from my little three year old son.

Last Fall, he and I planted 150 bulbs. I told him we would have to wait and then in a few months we would have a beautiful surprise! It was a lot of work. We have ground that is very rocky, and where it isn’t rocky, it’s clay. I was just hoping the gophers wouldn’t steal our labors when we finally got them all in - and that those bulbs would actually deliver on what I’d promised!

He couldn’t quite fathom “months” to wait for them to grow and so when he'd go look for some sign of life where we toiled, he was a bit unimpressed, for quite some time. When those bulbs eventually sprouted their little green tops about a month ago, I ran inside to get him and show him they were finally growing up. They didn’t look like much. He wasn’t that thrilled.

But once the driveway was lined with smiling yellow flowers that he helped plant, he was very proud and has been more than a little excited. And he also began loudly and urgently pointing out all the other daffodils along the roadside ever since, as if some how he knows and celebrates the work and waiting that went into those flowers too.

Our little daffodil planting taught him a small, but valuable lesson. Life is precious! It takes work and it takes patience.

O LORD, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions. Psalm 104:24”

Last year I too planted a bunch of trees, bulbs, bushes in my new yard...after a long winter, it was with rejoicing, I saw new little leaves poke through the mulched ground to delight us with blooms of various colors...then the trees bloomed to begin their eventual harvest of promised fruit...I showed one of my 4 year old grandsons around the yard, my daughter even took videos to send me as I travelled...

But, as I was traveling, in a foreign land, Israel, I found a vast array of new flowers as well.  They had had an abundant rainfall this spring, so the hills and valleys were covered with flowers of all kinds amid tall grasses, blooming trees and bushes...I was blessed to be amongst the beauty of a new spring at home and abroad...thank YOU for the gift of seasons....the beauty of the array colors and variety...

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. ” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning —the third day.

Genesis 1:11-13

It is time to write....capernaum...

It is time to write....

I sit on the 19 th floor in Tiberias, overlooking the Sea of Galilee....some mornings a mist covers the sea... haziness covering the mystery of area....but yesterday it was crystal clear as we stepped aboard a wooden boat to cross to a kibbutz along the other side...

The owner/captain of the boat is a messianic Jew who sang praise songs in Hebrew and English.... as we glided peacefully on glassy water....

Tears began to flow from heartfelt praise and deep thankfulness....awe that we were stepping on places that our Saviour stood, walked, healed, comforted, confronted, blessed, taught...not to worship the place but the deep sense of connection...it fills your soul...

We viewed an ancient boat they call a Jesus boat, it’s called. Found and Brought out of the sea, preserved from Jesus time.... like one he may have sat in and taught the multitudes...,his voice carrying across the water, teaching of the kingdom...

Then on to Capernaum...Nahum’s village, the village of the “comforter”, how fitting the Jesus started his ministry here...we sat under a tree on stone benches, on the edge of the Galilean sea, soaking in the word of a Hebrew Christian pastor...exhorting to dig deep into the Word...find what God is saying to each of us...

 ( under a close by tree sat another group, chanting ritual songs and sayings, covered with ornate vestments, complaining that we were preaching about Jesus!)

Whom do we serve?  How do I serve? Am I digging deep? Do I trust? 

A living Creator. Who loved us so much that he sent his son....thank YOU...

Lord, let this land, this light, this :Savior permeate my soul to it depths...

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:1-5 

Open my eyes 2....

Open my eyes 2....

Yesterday I sat through a visual kaleidoscope of  a man’s pictures from a life time of work...he has published over a hundred photography books of all subjects, worked with a multitude of organizations all over the world...and is still learning new things and teaching others how to see the world with open eyes from the minute sea foam bubble prisms on the Oregon beach to the panoramic mountains of Patagonia...from the rust patterns on old box cars to the painted elephants in Asia....what a privilege to be a part of this class...(his first time to teach in this “smaller” town with 150+ students), widening the visual horizons of each person in attendance....seeing art in life...

I just know God must love color...he created it after all...in the thoughts of the night I was reminded of microscope slides my husband made of the rocks from his thesis area to look at to find the type of crystal structures found within....or the pictures taken by the Hubble spacecraft of the systems it was traveling through...

We delight in seeing the beauty of the first flower that peeks through the  brown soil in the early spring...or the scrunched up face of a newborn baby...taking as many pictures as possible....

Thank YOU for eyes to see...help us to delight in the creation You have given us...to see with new eyes, new hearts...open each to Your salvation through the beauty of your plan...Jesus...

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Romans 1:20

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning —the first day. And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning —the second day. And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. ” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning —the third day. And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning —the fourth day. And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning —the fifth day. And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. ” Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food. ” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning —the sixth day.

Genesis 1:1-31 

Open my eyes...

Open my eyes....

I enjoy taking pictures...and with the newer cameras I can take lots of pictures...and then choosing the best and deleting the rest easily...not like the ones I grew up with where each took a picture, then you  had them processed and then choose...

I saved for my first camera with “green stamps” which were pre reward point basically ...various stores gave out stamps which we pasted diligently into little books, saving for a variety of products in gift books.  Our family took turns choosing their “gift”. Mine were the camera, bowls for my hope chest, a Cinderella watch and finally a whole set of stainless steel flatware.

But the camera was the first...I wanted to take pictures to record 

life events, trips which we took, family....so over the years I have collected bins and bins of pictures which my family will have the “privilege “ of tossing...oh well...and I still have my parents pictures as well!

Anyway, that said, today I am taking a one day class taught by a photographer who travels the world...he has published books, videos, teaches classes, takes students on photo trips...I want my eyes opened more to the marvelous creation given by an amazing Creator ...and of all the timing, this is three days before I leave to visit the country of  Israel.

So I am praying that God open my eyes to see, but also, my heart to respond to walking the paths, seeing the sights that our Savior saw...feeling  the culture of places we visit...seeing scripture with new eyes from years of reading the Bible to touching the area where it was written...thank YOU...

Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

Psalm 119:18

Song 

“Open our eyes, Lord

We want to see Jesus

To reach out and touch Him

And say that we love Him

Open our ears, Lord

And help us to listen

Open our eyes, Lord

We want to see Jesus”

Or “Open the eyes of my heart Lord “ by Michael W Smith 

Life boats....

Life boats....

There are 18 large lifeboats which have a capacity of 370 each and a whole lot of inflatable rafts around one of the decks of this boat, plus life jackets for every person, whistles, lights....a whole lot of safety features which you hope you don’t have to use....but, they are there anyway...each well marked to find quickly....

Lots of safety features...to preserve the lives of so many people in this vast  mass of water...

I was thinking about the book of Judge in the Bible in  relation to these many life savers...it can be broken in to 7 cycles....the down turn of a nation 7 times, judgment and then redemption...over and over again, those “lifeboats” that God answered with...

Or even the wealthy  land owner in Matthew 21, who kept sending his servants to collect the fruit from the land...the tenants kept killing them and finally killed the son as well, in order to claim the land as theirs...

Lifeboats...to obedience and safety which were tossed over for something “bigger”...instead the landowner gave the land to someone else...not the Jews...

If we were going down in their big ship, I would take the life boat or some kind of saving device and throw over the ones at hand waiting for something “better”...

God sent prophet after prophet to show the way to Him...and finally sent his only Son for our salvation...there is no one else...the Messiah has come...the Christ, the Savior....He will come again and we need to be ready...waiting for His appearance...thank YOU...

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

Matthew 21:33-41)