When I saw this photo, aside from it's startling beauty, I thought, 'it just breathes with God's majesty and hidden truths.' 

Surely there are many sermons suggested here. Such contrasts! 

When I was volunteering at the Union Gospel Mission at lunch, I would often write about my experiences; this was written one year ago.--

"Another young woman in her mid twenties came in for lunch at the mission and she was average looking, very lean and using heavy. She was doing what they call the "flail" which is moving about in a way that her body is difficult to control, not as though she were drunk, but it almost looks like the behavior of someone with M.S.

She was clothed in the most distressing manner; clothes dirty and messy, and her pants were unbuttoned and drooping off of her to the point she was exposed. She had the street grime on her feet and hands and I felt I just had to help her in some way and I asked one of the staff if we had a belt for her. We didn't but I realized it was impossible for me to do anything because she wasn't coherent and I'm sure she would have become combative if I had tried to help her in any way. I looked for a female volunteer but to no avail. So, I handed her the lunch and watched as she reeled and lurched her way out. Here I was right in the building where she could find safety, shelter and counsel and I was impotent to do anything. She just haunted me and her state of vulnerability was so perilous I just couldn't imagine her going a day without suffering some brutal attack. I found myself wondering whose daughter this was and the blood chilling horror they would feel if they saw her in this condition.

The following day, and for a week now, she has been on my mind. We hear of people that are found dead and castaway in the city from time to time and I realized she may well be in one of those reports. So I write her story to help me remember to pray for her because I know at some point my memory of her will fade and she will become just one more nameless person on the streets. Oh God, help keep her safe.

 

This hibernating snapping turtle just woke up. When I saw this it made me laugh and I thought, "This reminds me of what some of our Bibles look like! Time to clean 'em up and get back in the Word! 

John 15:8

"My Father is glorified by this, that you bear MUCH fruit, and so prove to be My disciples."

 When I saw this photo it moved me so deeply; I imagine this teacher in some remote, poverty stricken part of the world, dedicated to teach even though his class has but one small boy in grinding poverty. 

Oh Lord! Take this man's sacrifice and this young boy's mind, and create something beautiful!  

   "Have I not wept for the one who's life is hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?" Job 30:25

When I saw this picture it reminded me of how important it is for our children to be taught to be involved in the works of Christ. Sunday School can be so productive with a little imagination. Here are some ways we can sensitize our children to the needs of others. 

When there are natural disasters we can, in an age appropriate way, talk about it sharing photos, and plan to spend the month doing something about it. We can make some art works and sell the in the church foyer one Sunday, and send the money to a sister church in the area of the disaster to help fund emergency items. When parents know what the paintings are for they will be supportive and this could also be done in front of a Dept. store with some informative signage; I think it's a good testimony, and if student initiated, I think the public would donate by way of buying a picture. The same can be done with a bake sale, car wash or any craft done in class. 

Here are some other ideas for projects -- 

Letters to service men and women. Child trafficking project; local refugees; support and orphan through the church or organization; help single parents in the church, also widows, sick or shut-ins with gifts or correspondence. Support letters for missionaries supported by the church, and peruse the newspaper for prayer projects etc.  

"We all growl like bears, and moan sadly like doves."  Is. 59:11

Injustice, oppression, abuse cause us to rage without, while within our hearts mourn. 

 

  Most victims of abuse have no one, absolutely no one to have their back. God has His "Sons of thunder" and I can't think of a better place they could be. 
 

   "Love, in the Christian system, is not a power by which I am to claim brotherhood with humanity when humanity has reached my standard of moral purity; it is a power by which I am to claim brotherhood with men in their impurity, and through which I am to struggle to make them pure.

I am to realize the fact that those who are lying by the wayside, unworthy to join in the march of life, are still, even in their prostration, my brothers and my sisters, they are still members of the same family of which I am a member, they are still legitimate objects of my solicitude and of my care." George Matheson.

Home mission work, mercy, it is a struggle! Victims of abuse, sexual assault, combat and other horrid traumas require a full draught of grace, but God abundantly supplies those who work the mission here at home in the mission halls and on the streets.  

  

   I've been a Christian for over fifty years now, and God has rescued me from my wallowing in sin by many methods. His great love, Christ's forgiveness, the Holy Spirit's power, the protection of angels, the faithful pulpit and the congregation of saints; but there have been many rescues that came dressed in garb I would have never expected. The helping hand of God is not limited nor too short, and sometimes He sends the most unlikely deliverer. Be on the look out for the donkey or.......

 Jesus said, "When you give a banquet,  invite the poor, crippled, blind and lame, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." 

Dress accordingly...... 

 

 

  When I read this it reminded me of a quote I posted years ago -- 

“For majesty and beauty of subtle influence, nothing is comparable to the soul. Not the sun hanging upon the horizon has such power for flower and fruitage as has a full-orbed Christian heart, rich in all good influences, throbbing with kindness and sympathy, radiant as an angel. Great is man’s skill in handling engines of force; marvelous man’s control of winds and rivers; wondrous the master of engines and ideas. But man himself is greater than the tools he invents, and man stands forth clothed with the power to control and influence his fellows, in that he can sweeten their bitterness, allay their conflicts, bear their burdens, surround them with the atmosphere of hope and sympathy. N.D. Hillis.

 

 

 

 WHO SAID - 

 "I was homeless, both hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed, considered the scum of the world, the dregs of all things and roughly treated."?  

We never know a person's story until we befriend them. Nearly every homeless person has a story of severe tragedy. Many are Christian brothers and sisters; and many more will be homeless because of Covid and the rampant fires on the west coast. The quote above is by the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 4: 11-14 

In verse 14 he says, "I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children." 

 This is humorous and we can all relate to some degree, but in the lives of victims of adverse childhood circumstances it can become the default reaction to everyone, stranger or not. Without the foundation of a loving, nurturing and supportive home, we can see each stranger as a potential threat and another in a line of continual disappointments and betrayals.

 

 

My son wrote this in response to one of the countless emails he gets.

“I disagree with forming massive opinions and endorsing slander, intrigue and accusations on a international scale from a clip of a slick selection of minutes from a YouTube video.

I disagree with people fermenting mass anxiety and quasi-intellectual opinions on subjects they actually have absolutely no professional acumen upon.

I disagree with fear-based journalism that looks like it should be an episode on the Syfy channel or Info Wars.

I disagree with Christians that won’t read their bibles, attend church, or submit to the authority of elders they’ve known for years with proven wise and fruitful lives and will chuck it all for Internet personalities who have absolutely no care or connection with viewers.

I disagree with people spending hours of time following geopolitical theories of titillating supposedly secret knowledge, trying to attain macro and micro world event gnosis.

I disagree with people who are able to discuss and debate the latest outrage in the MSM but can’t or won’t disciple their families or evangelize the lost.

I disagree with lives that are a mile wide in turbulent Internet waters but an inch deep in martial or parental nurture, or skill and craftsmanship in actual day-to-day work and life matters.

I disagree with people who won’t fact check or cross expose themselves to opposing or conflicting opinions or sources because they are intellectually lazy or ideologically bigoted.

I disagree with an info-bloated culture that has access to a world of instant knowledge at its fingertips but is impoverished in the skills needed to discern truth from error, righteousness from unrighteousness or the kooks, cranks and cults from rational and reasonable journalists, educators, or political voices.

 

 "Will God withhold His blessing until I become pure?                                               Jesus said "blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." He will bless my very effort after purity, though I fail. He will accept the mere desire for Him; the mere wish of my heart to be like Him; the mere throb of my pulse to be near Him. Though I have not reached Him, if I only see in Him a beauty that I long for He will count it to me for righteousness. Though I claim not to be like Him, and despair that I'll ever touch the hem of His garment, if only I can admire from afar the kingliness of His beauty He will bless my very hunger and thirst for Him." George Matheson. 

Why do I feel guilt and shame?

 

Victims of child abuse often feel lasting guilt and toxic shame; here is a good piece that explains that.

"As a defense and when it is impossible to avoid the reality of the abuse, the child must construct some system of meaning that justifies it. Inevitably the child concludes that her innate badness is the cause. The child seizes on this explanation early and clings to it tenaciously, for it enable her to preserve a sense of meaning, hope and power. If she's bad, then her parents are good. If she is bad, then she can try to be good. If, somehow, she has brought this fate upon herself, then somehow she has the power to change it. If she has driven her parents to mistreat her, then if only she tries hard enough, she may some day earn their forgiveness and finally win the protection and care she so desperately needs."

Trauma and Recovery, Judith Herman M.D. Psychiatrist.

In each of our lives the Lord brings a few people who truly inspire and motivate us; this is one of those guys for me, David Soto. He was once desperately lost, and Christ came and miraculously saved him. So if you ever lose your way, and become hopelessly lost, you might meet David searching all alone, peering under tarps and lifting up boxes in the byways and hedges looking for you.

Now the guy fishing in his washer reminds me of the Christian who never gets out of his house and into the world and wonders why he never sees souls saved or lives redeemed. .

   "Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions;       

And they have not exposed your iniquity." Lamentations 2:14

  When I read that verse this morning I couldn't help think of all the prophecies I've heard about the End Times. Every time a disaster hits new predictions and prophetic hysteria begins. Don't misunderstand me, I'm 74 and the average life-span of a male in the U.S. is 78, so I know the end is near for me. But every generation from the time of Christ thought their's was the last generation, and certainly Paul did. Now my intention is not to provoke conversations embroiled in controversy; but suffice to say; in my fifty one years as a Christian, I've never seen so many lost and hurting souls. I work a hotline and thousands of calls come in each day: souls broken, abused, deserted, depressed to the point of self harm and suicide. The fields, OH CHRISTIAN, the fields are ripe and ready to harvest, but the workers are few. If you specialize in End Time theology, consider adding to that specialty a heart the mourns for the sufferer, the lost, the downcast; surely you can do both, but if only one.....choose wisely.